Recovering Hearts
by The Wolfman89
Summary: Keiko is no longer there for Yusuke. Will he find new love? Will he go on his greatest adventure yet? Yusuke/Kagome Rated M just in case. Read and Review please, welcoming constructive criticism.YYHxIY Crossover Post-Sensui.
1. Breaking and Joining

This is my first fic, so please be nice, next chapters will be better.

If I owned Yu Yu Hakusho and Inuyasha the this wouldn't technically be fan fiction would it?

The Fuedal Era

It was almost sunset. Kagome Higurashi was watching Inuyasha from a bush, he seemed to be waiting for something, the only reason she hadn't gone to him yet was an overwhelming feeling telling her to stay put.

She was glad she had obeyed this feeling when Kikyo walked into the clearing. "Inuyasha, my love," she said, walking to the half-demon,

"Kikyo," he said in a tone very unlike his usual one.

Kagome didn't seem to remember most of the conversation, one part that stuck out particularly well in her mind, however, was a comment Inuyasha had made when Kikyo said "You must choose, now, between me, or that girl with whom I share a soul."

"..."

"Inuyasha?"

"I choose you, Kikyo" Inuyasha said before kissing her.

Kagome didn't know howe long it was after that when she heard Kikyo say "Farewell, Inuyasha."

Kagome got up to walk away, she was just going to go home, and refuse to come back for a long time.

Inuyasha's demon hearing heard her move, and his sense of smell recognized the scent that he had been too preoccupied to notice before.

"Kagome...I'm so sorry," Inuyasha said, Kagome came out into the open.

"How can you love some one whose dearest ambition is to take you to hell?" she asked, holding back her tears; Inuyasha would not see her cry over him, she would not allow that.

"I'm going home, don't follow me...I'll come back eventually."

And with that she took off into the night, finally letting tears fall as she ran to the well that would take her home, to the present.

The Present

Yusuke Urameshi was sitting on the roof of the school; waiting for Keiko, she had said that she wanted to talk to him about something important. "Why is she taking so damn long? It's almost sunset!" Yusuke said out loud.

At that moment, Keiko walked through the door that lead back into the school. "_About damn time," _Yuskuke thought. Keiko walked past him, appearing to look out at the sunset, really she was keeping her face hidden in case she started crying again.

"Yusuke...I have some bad news..." she said hesitantly. "I was accepted at a scool for the gifted, it's really far away." Yusuke could here her voice start to shake very slightly. "How long are you going to be there?" Yusuke interupted, he had a really bad feeling about where this was going.

Keiko looked back at him sadly as she answered "Four years."

"But...but..what about..?"

"I'm really sorry," she said as she turned back away, tears close to breaking through.

"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?" Yuske had sprung to his feet.

"It'll be really good for my future, and my parents want me to go." Keiko said. "I thought about it alot Yusuke, and I'm going to go, and besides, I'll be back every summer."

"That's not good enough." Yusuke said in a surprisingly quiet and calm voice, though part of his world was collapsing.

"Yusuke, I'm going, you can't change that...I don't expect you to wait for me...I can't ask that of you," Keiko said, even though they weren't technically a couple.

"So this is it? The end of...us?" Yusuke asked, sadness in his voice.

"NO, we'll still be friends, and if we both happen to be single when I get back-" She stopped realizing that Yusuke might not want her back, and that the chances of him being single weren't great anyway.

"I really am sorry Yusuke."

"Yeah, sure." She could here the depression in his voice, it pierced her heart like knives made of ice.

"I-I'll call you later." She decended down into the school, leaving Yusuke sitting there alone

"_No, you won't,"_ Yusuke thought to himself.

Kagome had left the fuedal erea without even stopping in the village. She had gone straight to her room after arriving in her own time and had locked herself inside while she cried herself to sleep. She didn't sleep well, her dreams played the scene she had just witnessed over and over again. Each time she woke up she would invariably begin crying again.

Yusuke had a different method of dealing with heartache, after a few minutes sitting alone on the rooftop, he too had gone straight home, but only stayed long enough to steal some of his mother's vodka. He downed the bottle almost at once, then went looking for a fight. He had never been drunk before, dispite being the biggest badass in school; his reason was simple: he had seen what alcahol could do from watvhing his mom, and he rarely wanrted to make an ass out of himself. Of course, he really didn't care at the moment, he was just in need of as many distractions as he could find.

Kagome woke up, sick of reliving Kikyo and Inuyasha's kiss, she wanted to talk to someone, Sango being the ideal choice, but that would require her going back through the well and risk seeing Inuyasha, and that was the last thing she wanted at the moment.

The alcahol began to wear off very slightly, and Yusuke realized he had no idea what part of town he was in, he didn't care much, but it was damned inconvienient. He really had no idea where he should go, not wanting to go home and wait for Keiko to call. He wandered around some more, he could tell he was on the outskirts of town, he could see small forest,which seemed to be part of people's back yard, he decided to go walking through them as he hadn't found a fight yet.

As luck would have it Yusuke did run into someone who knew where he was, and who knew Yusuke himself. The fox's hightened sense of smell cought the scent of vodka in the ait before it caught the scent that accompanied it. "_Yusuke...this can't be good, it would probably be wise to keep him near until the alcohol wears off entirely..." _Kurama thought as he moved in the direction the smell was coming from (A/N I picked Kurama to find Yusuke because he's the most intelligent and sympathetic member of the team by a long shot).

"Yusuke?" Kurama asked when he was near enough for Yusuke to hear him, knowing full well it was him.

"Heyyyy, Kurama!" Yusuke said in a drunken slur.

"Yusuke, what are you doing here, and why are you drunk?" Kurama asked.

"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS, FOX!" Yusuke shouted, suddenly violent.

"Yusuke, please calm dow-" Kurama was cut off as Yusuke punched at him, though he missed by a long shot.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Yusuke yelled.

Kurama knew that Yusuke wasn't really much of a threat to him in his current state, but he decided that it would be best to end this fight. He pulled some sort of powder from his pocket and threw it at Yusuke, who fell, as he felt energy leaving him, he said "What the hell did you do to me?"

"The powder are spores of a plant that react to alcohol, and being as inebriated as you are..." Kurama stopped, he realized that he was talking to an unconcious teenager.

He heaved a sigh and sat down at the base of a nearby tree, as he waited for Yusuke to wake up.

Kagome woke up the next morning, feeling as if she hadn't slept at all. She needed to talk to some one, anyone, that could help her, she found her mother first. Her mother didn't ask her what had happened, though she gathered a vague image of what had happened. She let her daughter cry herself to silence.

"Honey, I can't tell you how to live your life or who you should share it with, but I think you need to let go of Inuyasha..."

Kagome looked back up at her mother without speaking. She knew she needed some one who wasn't going to ditch her every time a past lover came into her life.

"Thanks for listening, mom"

Across town, Yusuke Urameshi was waking up with a killer hangover, having no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there. "_What the hell? was I really that drunk?" _Yusuke thought.

"You know, you realy shouldn't drink that much without building up a tolerance first, and certainly not all at once," said a voice nearby.

"KURAMA! WHAT THE HELL?" Yusuke was even more surprised now.

"Good Morning, Yusuke." Kurama said.

"What the hell is going on?" Yusuke asked without hesitation.

"Well, you showed up around here, drunk, and apparently with something on your mind..." Kurama stated.

Yusuke did not respond.

"Yusuke, you are my friend, and I am concerned, please tell me, I hardly believe that you get drunk and wander the streets on a normal basis."

"Well..." Yusuke began, he told Kurama what had happened.

Kurama listened, he knew that Yusuke was more hurt then he was letting on.

"I dunno what to do, Kurama..."

Kurama looked into Yusuke's eyes and simply said "Move on."

"...Sorry, Kurama, you're not my type" Yusuke said with a joking grin on his face, he felt much better after talking to Kurama, although still not nearly as good as usual.

Kurama rolled his eyes. "You can't take anything seriously, can you?"

"Sorry, reflex."

Yusuke considered this, he had loved Keiko, but she was leaving him for a school, it wasn't as if she didn't stand out at the one they were at. "_Yeah, he's probably right, as usual.." _Yusuke thought.

_Two weeks later..._

Kagome had not returned to the Fuedal era yet, though she thought she should soon. She was using this opportunity to catch up on her schoolwork. She was thouroughly enjoying having a normal life. She had not acted on her mother's advice yet...she didn't know when she would be ready to do this either. She had told her friends that she was no longer with the jealous, rude, arrogant, bad boy, which they were pleased to hear, convinced she should be with Hojo. She didn't realy like Hojo like that though.

Kagome wasn't the only one spending alot more time at School. Yusuke could also be seen at his classes too, he didn't realy want to be there, but Koenma had ordered him to, he of course had told Yusuke it was for a mission and would get back to him on the details, but the real reason was because Kurama had told him about what had happened, and since Keiko had always been an emotional trigger for Yusuke he decided that it would be safer for all involved if Yusuke were distracted somewhat. Koenma was surprised that Yusuke hadn't complained about the "mission" too much, he seemed alot more docile then usual.

The school day was over, Yusuke was in detention with Mr. Takanawa, leaning back in a chair and waiting for it to be over. It should be any minute...

KNOCK KNOCK

"Enter" said Mr. Takanawa.

Yusuke looked at the door just as a beautiful girl entered. She aproached the teacher's desk and asked for some notes or something, Yusuke wasn't really listening, he was busy staring at her form, that is until he leaned back so far that he fell over backward. "Here you are Ms. Higurashi." Yusuke heard as he picked himself up off the floor.

About half a minute later Yusuke was out of Mr. Takanawa's classroom. He was thinking about Kurama's advice...if only he could have gotten out of there a little bit sooner, he could have at least gotten her first name. It wasn't as if many girls talked to him, they were afraid of him because of his reputation as a dangerous street punk.

"_Damn it! That bastard couldn't have let me out just a few seconds earlier," _Yusuke thought.

He started walking home, but it seemed luck was on his side. He spotted her just ahead of him as she turned into an alley, he suddenly got a bad feeling. A few seconds later he knew why, five older boys followed her into the alley. He sped up.

Kagome turned into the alley, which formed a shortcut, her mind on the boy she had just seen in detention. "_I wonder who he was, I've never seen him before, he was cute..."_ Kagome stared to turn red, even though she knew that she was alone.

She heard footsteps behind her. As she looked she knew she was in trouble. The boys surrounded her. "Hey there pretty girl, wanna come have some fun?"

"No...I think I'll pass..." she said calmly, but she was terrified.

"No, you won't," said one of the boys as he pushed her down. One of them pulled out a knife after she was on the ground. _"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!! I SURVIVE COUNTLESS DEMONS AND HUMANS ARE GOING TO KILL ME!" _She closed her eyes as she prepared for the inevitable.

WHOOSH!

Kagome heard the sound of someone jumping through the air, flesh hitting flesh, and the sounds of five people running away. "_Inuyasha's come for me," _Kagome thought as she opened her eyes. The sight she saw was not what she expected.

"You'd better run!" Said a boy in a green uniform with gelled back hair, the boy she'd seen at school just minutes ago.

"Are you ok?' he asked, leaning over and offering his hand to her. She was shaking violently.

"I-I think so..." Kagome said, still slightly in shock. She took his hand and pulled herself up. She suddenly felt much safer, as if this boy had some kind of power to protect. "I don't think those guys will be back, but maybe it'd be safer if I walked you home..." Yusuke said, a faint trace of pink in his face.

"..."

"I understand if you don't want me too, I just thought-"

"Ok."

Yusuke was surprised, but pleased. They walked side by side, Kagome still on high alert. Eventually they arived at the shrine.

"You probably saved my life..." Kagome said.

"It was nothin'" Yusuke said, starting to blush slightly.

"I wish I knew how to thank you..."

Yusuke grinned in a way that reminded her of Miroku in some of his less-than-innocent moments.

"Well...maybe a date..." Yusuke said, he didn't feel bad about asking her this, she was much calmer now, he still turned red though.

Kagome turned red too, but she smiled, judging by the grin she was sure she was about to ask her to bear his children. She thought about it, he had just saved her from being killed, she would also be following her mother's advice, not to mention she found him very attractive, and she felt she could trust him.

"Sure" she said, though this whole thing seemed like something from a corny story to her. "I'm Kagome by the way, Kagome Higurashi."

"Yusuke Urameshi, at your service." He said, taking her hand and kissing it _"I have got to thank Kurama for telling me this one" _Yusuke thought.

NEXT CHAPTER: First Date, First Kiss, First Hint

Sorry, this chapter kinda sucked, I promise the next will be better, comments, questions,


	2. First Date, First Kiss, First Hint

Sorry about the OOC-ness last chapter, I worked on that a bit harder this chapter, may have overdone it, will get better later, please read and review

"So what's she like?" It was three days after Yusuke had saved Kagome from the thugs. Him and Kuwabara were sitting on the roof of the school, and Yusuke had just told him about his date (which he and Kagome had scheduled for that night).

"She's a slammin' hottie, if that's what your askin'." Yusuke supplied.

"I mean does she have a good personality?"

"How the hell should I know? I just met her, moron."

"You asked her out and you don't even know her even a little bit?"

"Because you had actually met Yukina when you fell in LOVE with her..." Yusuke said sarcastically.

"Shut up Urameshi! Our love is sacred!"

"Anyway, she doesn't seem like she'd be terrible, I don't think she'll slap me for the slightest thing at least." Ignoring Kuwabara's sudden outburst.

"I can't believe you've forgetting about Keiko so quickly."

The atmosphere changed immediately. Yusuke became silent, he had by no means forgotten about Keiko, is still stung slightly to think about her, but he was recovering quicker then expected. He couldn't quite explain why.

"I haven't forgotten about her...but I need to move on with my life..." Yusuke finally said, his voice quiet.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Oh, and Kuwabara?"

"Ye-?" Kuwabara was cut off as Yusuke put him in a headlock.

"Hey, Kagome!" a voice cut through the air. Kagome rolled her eyes and prayed for patience, she knew that voice. Hojo was strolling towards her through the crowd of students coming and going to lunch.

Knowing what was coming didn't make it any less annoying for Kagome. "Hello Hojo," she said politely.

"Kagome, I was wondering, if you are feeling well enough for it of course, if you could go to a concert with me tonight." Hojo said, which Kagome had expected.

"I'm really sorry, Hojo," she wasn't, "I already have...plans."

"Oh, ok." Hojo walked away, shoulders slumped.

"What plans could you possibly have that are important enough to blow off Hojo?" Eri asked, Kagome gave a slight jump, she hadn't even realized her friends were with her.

"I have a date tonight." Kagome stated simply.

"With that rude, jealous, inconciderate jerk?" Yuka chimed in.

"What-? No, I'm not with him anymore." Kagome was surprised she had managed to keep this from her friends this long.

"Oh! Then who?"

"He's a great guy, I haven't told you this, but I was attacked by five guys a couple days ago, well, he stepped in and fought them all off, had them running with their tails between their legs."

"You went out with this guy just because of that?"

"No, after that he walked me home to make sure I was safe, and well, he asked me out...I know it was a bit forward of him, but he was really sweet, and cute." Kagome said the last part slightly pink in the face.

"He sounds like a super hero! What's his name?"

"Yusuke." Kagome said.

"Yusuke? Yusuke Urameshi??" her friends asked in horror.

"Yeah...why?" Kagome asked, surprised by her friends' reaction.

"Kagome! Stay away from him! He's dangerous!"

"What??"

"He's gone from school even more then you are."

"He beats people up just for fun."

"He's really mean."

"He's a huge pervert! I heard he used to raise his last girlfriend's skirt all the time and looks in the girls locker rooms after second period gym."

"I don't believe any of that!" Kagome said angrily, how could they insult her savior? "If he's such a bad-boy then why did he chase off those punks? Why did he walk me home?"

"I don't know! Maybe he was going to mug you the second there was no one around and never got the chance."

"That's enough, he probably saved my life, and I'm not going to let some rumors about how mean he is change my opinion of him." Kagome snapped, although the not being at school often part could help explain why she'd never seen him before. She then stormed off.

"Hey, Kuwabara, now that I've kicked your ass, do you think you could lend me some money?" Yusuke asked; having just beat Kuwabara in another of their infamous wrestleing matches.

"Why should I do that?" Kuwabara asked, dumbfounded.

"Because, I don't have any money to take Kagome out tonight."

"So? Real men earn money!" Kuwabara retorted.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? I can't get a job because of the damn toddler, and I can't exactly get any from my mom when it all gets spent on booze! Besides, wouldn't a 'real man' help out a friend in need?"

Kuwabara didn't have a reply for this, he pulled out his wallet and handed a small amount over to Yusuke, it was barely enough for a standard "dinner and a movie"

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but what the hell am I supposed to take her to do with this chump change?"

"It's all I got, and you're paying me back."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get right on that."

_Later That Night_

Yusuke was doing something he'd never thought he'd find himself doing: worrying about what he should wear. In the end he decided on blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a dark green jacket, which, for Yusuke, was actually quite dressed up. Being dressed, he gelled back his hair and gave Kurama a call, he knew Kurama had a way with women (anyone with eyes could see that), and was not opposed to taking his advice.

"And for God's sake Yusuke, don't lift her skirt."

"Thanks a million man, I owe you big." Yusuke said before hanging up, though he thought Kurama's last comment was a bit uneccesary.

As they would be walking mostly everywhere Yusuke thought it would be best to leave then, not that he lived extremely far from Kagome, but he wanted to be there on time.

Kagome was getting ready herself, she chose a fairly simple ensemble as well. A medium sized skirt and a tank-top, she decided against the mini-skirt, she didn't want to be looking like a corner girl on a first date; though if what she heard was true, Yusuke wouldn't really have minded that much if she did.

Although Kagome had put up a great defense of Yusuke, the truth was that some of what her friends had said began to give her doubts. She did, afterall, barely know Yusuke, and her friends had all been united in there offense, besides, Yusuke had definately been in more then a few fights judging by how fast and effectively he had dealt with the attackers. She couldn't seem to convince herself entirely though, there was no doubt that he had saved her, or that he had been a fairly decent gentleman, and there was still Kagome's inexplicable trust and that strange sense of power from him. She decided that she would, depending on how the night went, ask him about it, hear his side of the story. She knew from expierience that alot of tough guys had a soft side too...

6:10 pm, Yusuke had shown up five minutes early. He walked onto the grounds of the shrine. He felt strange here, it was too much like Genkai's temple, but it actually seemed even more spiritual here. "_This place is wierd, I swear I can feel spirit energy coming off that tree."_ Yusuke thought, as he passed the largest tree on the property.

As much as he wanted to explore the shrine, he didn't have the time, and he thought it would be quite rude to just go nosing around. He approached the house.

_KNOCK. KNOCK._

After only a few seconds a young boy answered the door.

"Hey, I'm here to pick up Kagome..."

"Ok, sure. I'll get her for you."

_"Am I being paranoid, or did he just sound disapointed?" _Thought Yusuke.

He heard the boy call through the house for Kagome, followed almost immediately by footsteps going down stairs. "Ok, Mom, I'm leaving now, be home later." Yusuke heard.

"So, what first, dinner or a movie?" Yusuke asked as he and Kagome walked down the shrine steps.

"Dinner, I want to know more about you."

"Ok, sorry if we don't eat somewhere fancy."

They ate somewhere barely a step up from fast food, but Kagome didn't seem to mind. They talked for quite a while. Eventually Kagome got up the courage she needed, and he really didn't seem like her friends had said at all.

"Listen, my friends were talking about you today..." Kagome began.

"So you heard about that, hunh? Listen, that whole 'rising from the dead' thing was just a rumor, the idiot paramedics said I was dead, but I was just in a coma for a few days." Yusuke cut her off, he'd had to think of a story the first day he came back to school after being dead.

Kagome was fairly shocked by this news, NO ONE had seen it fit to mention that.

"That's not what I meant..."

"Oh, then you heard about my bad-boy rep," Yusuke didn't like this, he couldn't blame her for asking. "Listen, I won't lie, I've beaten up some jerks that deserved it, but alot of the rumors are exagerated. I know what people think of me." He added.There was a gloomy feel in the air, Kagome could tell she had upset Yusuke a little.

"I didn't believe them when they said you beat up people just for fun," Kagome said in a comforting way.

"Thanks, most people _do_ believe it."

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to hear your side of it."

"It's ok, really, I'm just glad you gave me that chance."

Kagoem looked into Yusuke's eyes. She couldn't explain it, most of Yusuke looked right, his face was youthful, but his eyes looked one hundred years old to her.

"_He's been through some rough stuff,"_ Kagome thought, remembering the same look in Inuyasha's eyes.

"So...um, what was that about you being in a coma, I didn't hear THAT story today." Kagome said, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, a kid ran after his ball into the street and I pushed him outta the way, so I got hit instead, stupid kid." Yusuke said.

Kagome was really caught off guard by this, now she was _sure _her friends were wrong about him. He did seem to have a slight mean streak, but compared to the rest of him, that was nothing.

"That was very brave of you," Kagome said.

"Nah, I just acted on instinct, but enough about me," Yusuke said, "let's talk about you for a while." It was probably best to direct the conversation away from himself, he figured, for two reasons, one: he didn't want to blunder and say something related to his work as spirit detective, and two: Kurama had told him not to talk about himself too much.

"Oh there's not much to say really, I live on the shrine with my grandpa, mom, and brother, that's about it." Kagome said, she spent most of her time in the fuedal era these days, so she couldn't really talk much about herself.

"Oh, come on, you're telling me a pretty girl like you doesn't have interesting going on in her life?"

Kagome came up with as much as she could, until it was time to move onto the movie. Yusuke paid the restaurant, and they left. The movie was a standard chick-flik (Yusuke had built up an immunity with Keiko).

"I'm sorry you had to sit through that" Kagome said two hours later. She knew that any self-respecting guy would never have wanted to sit through that, but Yusuke had insisted she pick.

"It's not a problem, I don't mind movies like that too much."

It was almost dark outside. "You know, it'd be a real shame to let the night end so quickly..." Yusuke said slyly. Kagome gave him a smile, the answer he had wanted.

They talked while they wandered around aimlessly, Yusuke was _really_ beginning to like this girl. The feeling was mutual for Kagome as well; to her, this boy seemed just a bit like Inuyasha, and though she hated to admit it, that was a good thing to her.

Eventually their legs carried them into the park. As it was dark out now there wasn't really anybody there. Conversation seemed to slow as they entered a particularly wooded area. The only sources of light around were a few dim lamp-post.

"You know, they say you should always wait until the third date for the first kiss..." Yusuke started, "but I've never really been big on rules." Yusuke had known this was the right time, he could feel it, and he was not disappointed. He kissed her, and she kissed back.

Excluding the life-giving kiss from Keiko, which he hadn't even really been concious for, Yusuke had never kissed anyone. Kagome didn't even have that to go on. Yusuke kissed her softly, not wanting to scare her away.

Slowly, the kiss broke. Both participants were slightly pink. It hadn't only been their first with eachother, it had been their first kiss altogether. They had both enjoyed the expierience.

"_**Well Detective, it's good to see you've moved on from the other one, it was rather embarassing to think that the only human I have ever considered an equal was pushed around so easily by such a frail human girl."**_

_**"Hiei! Get outta my head! I'm on a date!" **_Yusuke thought back_**.**_ He should have figured Hiei would be around, up in the trees.

_**"Hn. I'm just glad to see you chose some one stronger, I can actually feel this ones energy."**_

This telepathic conversation did make Yusuke notice one thing though, he _could_ sense Kagome's energy. Making a mental note to look into that later, he offered his arm to Kagome, as he bagan to escort her back home. He was in a really good mood.

"Thanks for tonight, I had a really good time" Kagome said as they reached the shrine.

"Me too," said Yusuke, "When will I see you again?" Yusuke asked before he could stop himself.

"Soon."

Next Chapter: Looking for Answers, Finding Confusion

Please. Review, even if you didn't like it. Tell me what you do or don't like.


	3. Searching for Answers, Finding Confusion

This chapter would have been up a few nights earlier but it was a nightmare to write, partly because I can't wait to start the next chapter, and partly because I couldn't get myself satisfied with it, this is seriously my third revision and I'm STILL not satisfied, but I wanted to get the update to the fans, so bear with it please, I know its not my est work, but its important. I was so sick of writing by the end I started to speed through stuff a little, probably got a little sloppy and subtley less subtle **Warning:** Very slight Citrus flavoring in this chapter

A month had passed. Yusuke and Kagome had been out quite a few more times since then, not to mention that Yusuke was now willingly going to school just to see Kagome (Koenma hadn't told him that there was no mission yet). In fact, Kagome had brought out quite a few things in Yusuke, he thought he understood Kuwabara's "Red Pinky String of Love," he always seemed to know where to go to find her.

He still hadn't quite figured out why she had such a powerful aura, he had thought about telling Genkai he needed his spirit senses checked when he realized just how much spirit energy she had, she wasn't anywhere near his level, but it was still _way _more then a normal human should have. Yusuke convinced himself that it had to do with growing up on a shrine.

Tonight was going to big a step forward in their relationship. Yusuke was going to meet Kagome's family and have dinner with them. Afterwords they were going to go up to Kagome's room and do homework (well, Kagome was going to do homework, Yusuke was going to sit and talk to her the whole time), and if they had time after that even, they were going to watch a movie together.

They had not progressed past innocent kissing yet, not that this really bothered Yusuke, it was still more action then he was used to. Although tonight, he thought maybe with the extra privacy Kagome's room would provide, they may take another step.

He had wanted to meet some of Kagome's friends, but they were all too terrified of him. Yusuke thought he should have figured as much, most girls, well, most _people_, wouldn't talk to him for that same reason.

Yusuke was once again trying to pick out something to wear. In the end he decided on the same thing he had worn on his and Kagome's first date. Kagome had convinced him not to gel his hair this time. Yusuke pulled on his jeans, and out of habit, he slipped a small, dark purple compact into his back pocket. He then pulled on his shirt and jacket and set off for Kagome's house.

Kagome was getting ready too, she was wearing a long yellow skirt and a blue shirt. Her hair in its normal fashion. All that consisted of her getting ready now was yelling at her brother, Sota.

"Don't embarass me! And don't even THINK about mentioning Inuyasha!"

"Alright fine, sis, I won't," Sota began to mumble after that.

"What was that?"

"I liked Inuyasha better," Suota said quietly.

Sota was saved from a volley of verbal assualts by their mother who said "Kagome, could you help me in here real quick?"

"You're getting off light, brat." Kagome said as she stormed away.

Yusuke was on the steps to Kagome's family's shrine. He was walking a bit slower then normal, he was nervous. A small part of him realized the hilarity of him being nervous over something like this when he had faced death countless times (and actually died twice). However, there was no denying that he was desperate for Kagome's family to like him.

He had reached the door, he knocked. He was relieved when it was Kagome who answered the door. "Don't worry, I told them not to ask you too much." she said, Yusuke's nervousness must have been showing on his face. Taking off his shoes, he stepped over the threshold.

Kagome's mom was the first he met, as she had come to greet him. "Hello dear," she said in a sweet voice accompanied by a smile, then catching the look on Yusuke's face, she added "there's no need to be nervous, we won't bite." She walked back into the kitchen.

"Your mom's nice," Yusuke said. Kagome smiled.

"I should warn you now, Gramps is a little unusual."

"I'll be ok."

Dinner passed without great incident, Kagome's grandfather talked to Yusuke almost endlessly about how important shrines were in warding off spirits and demons in the past. _"If only you knew, old man."_ Yusuke found himself thinking. He had to be careful with his responses however, he didn't want to reveal that he actually did fight spirits and demons on a regular basis. "_Like they'd believe it anyway...as far as they know demons don't exist"_ Yusuke thought.

The only other notable thing that happened during this dinner. Kagome's family asked surprisingly few questions. However, Yusuke couldn't shake the feeling that kagome's little brother didn't like him very much. He kept shooting him dirty looks and had a tone of distaste when Yusuke spoke to him. Yusuke chose to ignore this for now.

Dinner was finished. Yusuke and Kagome went upstairs. Yusuke found that Kagome wasn't really talkative while she did her homework. This eventually drove him to ask; "Why are you doing your homework on a Friday anyway?"

"Well, I have alot of catching up to do." Kagome answered. Yusuke looked confused.

"I'm...sick alot, so I get really behind." This hadn't come up yet.

"I just blow it off."

"That probably works fine for you, but I'm an over-achiever, so I couldn't live with myself if I did."

"Fair enough."

Another half an hour passed, Yusuke was mostly silent. He couldn't seem to let something stop bothering him.

"Hey, Kagome, why doesn't your brother like me?" Yusuke asked eventually, unable to think of anything he had done to the kid.

Kagome took her time answering.

"Well, he basically hero-worshipped my last boyfriend. It's not something personal."

"Ok, I thought I did something, it was buggin' the crap outta me."

Kagome's comment reminded him of something, he still hadn't told her about Keiko. He thought it would be better if she heard it from him, and, afterall, he wasn't great at hiding things like that.

"Kagome, I need to tell you something..." He began.

Kagome looked up from her homework, straight into his eyes.

"I just wanted to tell you that I've been in a serious relationship before, and we broke it off because she was going away to school. Thought you should hear it from me instead of anybody else."

Kagome knew she should appreciate his honesty, but Inuyasha had had a lover that had vanished for a while and then came back. She couldn't help herself from drawing a comparison.

"What do you plan to do?"

"What do ya' mean?"

"Well, if she comes back, if she doesn't like it up there and wants you back, what will you do...about us?"

Yusuke looked at her like she was crazy.

"I'd choose you, what else would I d-" Yusuke was cut off mid-word by Kagome, who had chosen this moment to practically jump from her chair to her bed and kiss him. It was his final statement that had brought her from the misdirected anger she was so close to when he had started talking. What he had said was at the same time the same as what Inuyasha had said, but completely the opposite. He had used the same words, but they were directed at Kagome, not some lover from the past.

The kiss deepened. Yusuke was leaning into Kagome. His tongue roving over her bottom lip, begging for access, which Kagome granted. She was enjoying the kiss quite as much as Yusuke. His hands were currntly above her waist. Well, they'd come this far...Yusuke began slowly moving his hands up, however, when he had gotten a little too high, Kagome's hand suddenly moved from his shoulder to his hand, and slowly moved it back down. She wasn't ready for that yet.

Yusuke wasn't sure how long they'd been kissing when it happened. He felt the communicator in his back pocket go off. He ignored it. At least he did the next three times it went off before he removed it from his pocket without breaking the kiss, or even changing position, and threw it out of Kagome's opened window. It had been getting annoying. He placed his hand back on Kagome's side.

Kagome hadn't noticed any of this, both her and Yusuke had their eyes closed. Which was lucky, because a while later something distinctly more noticeable happened. Yusuke heard a small gasp of surprise, which was followed by a familiar female giggle, and then a slight whooshing noise, all seeming to come from just outside Kagome's window.

Unfortunetly, Kagome had heard this too. Which brought an end to their passionate kiss.

"Did you hear that just now?" Kagome asked. She sounded breathless.

"Yeah..."

"Do you think my mom saw us?"

"I don't know...maybe you should look out real quick and see." Yusuke said, he had known EXACTLY who had just seen them together. He did his best to keep his anger off his face, he seemed to succeed, because after giving him an embarassed look, she got up and went out into the hall to look. He went and quickly looked out the window. He thought he could just barely make out a small pink dot against the darkness. Well, he'd deal with that later. He returned to Kagome's bed right as she walked back in.

"I guess it was just the TV or something," she said.

"Yeah, probably." Yusuke wanted to continue their make-out session, but knew they couldn't. Kagome was slightly on edge, and the mood had been ruined.

"Soooo..you done with your homework?" Yusuke asked. It was severely awkward.

"For tonight." She'd only done half of what she had wanted to, but she couldn't go back to it now, when she'd jsut taken such an intense break from it.

She glanced at the clock, they had quite a bit of time before she would be going to bed.

"We still have time for a movie." Kagome said.

"Cool."

They went downstairs, the house seemed empty, apparently everyone else was in bed already. Kagome put a movie in. It wasn't bad, a slow paced action movie. It was about half over when Kagome's head fell onto Yusuke's chest; she was fast asleep. "_Damn, I'm really gonna hate waking her up..." _Yusuke thought.

"YUSUKE! Wake up!" Kagome said in a loud whisper. "Come on! Wake up." It was just past dawn, Yusuke had fallen asleep almost immediately after Kagome, and if her family found him asleep there, well, that couldn't end well...

"I don't wanna go hiking..." Yusuke mumbled in his sleep.

"Yusuke! Please!" Kagome said, giving him a small shake.

"Hunh?" Yusuke said, coming out of his slumber.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was Kagome's terrified face. After a few more seconds he noticed the blue TV screen, and the new light of the day.

"CRAP!"

"You need to go, quickly, before my family wakes up."

"I'm gone. Bye." Yusuke tore out of there, barely remembering to grab his shoes.

At the foot of the stairs he stopped to put on his shoes. He was cold; he'd left his jacket in Kagome's room. Despite how cold he was, his unceremonious departure from Kagome's house, and their interrupted kissing, he was quite happy. He was still going to go to Spirit World and chew Koenma and Botan out, but he had a feeling he wasn't going to explode as much as usual.

He wasn't remotely tired now, and considering that he knew that what he was going to do could take a while, he decided to skip going home. He immediately ran to the most wooded part of the park and started searching.

"HEY HIEI! YOU HERE?" Yusuke yelled at the top of his voice. He wasn't worried about being overheard, no one was out this early.

"Of course I am." said a voice behind him. Yusuke turned around, Hiei seemed slightly annoyed.

"Cool. Can you do me a favor?"

"No."

"Aren't you even going to ask what it is?"

"Hn. Fine, what is it?"

"Could you open a portal to Spirit World?"

"Going to tell the Toddler Prince why you didn't answer his summons last night?"

"Kinda. How'd you know about that anyway?"

"I'm the one they made go instead. A couple of low-level demons the oaf could have handled alone."

"Anyway, you know how?"

"Yes, but why would I help you?"

"Well, you're the only one I can get right now, normally Botan takes me, but I left my communicator...somewhere. And I don't think Kurama would appreciate being woken up this early."

Hiei looked unconvinced.

"I dunno, maybe I should spend my time helping Yukina find her long lost bro-" Yusuke began. Hiei's sword already at his throat.

"It would be the last thing you ever did."

"Yukina wouldn't like that." Yusuke said, he knew Hiei wouldn't actually hurt him, or at least he wouldn't kill him.

"Hn." Hiei sheathed his sword.

"Thanks. I owe ya' one."

Hiei opened the portal. Yusuke began to step through.

"You're finding your own way back."

"Whatever. Later."

Yusuke found himself outsied Koenma's office. He wondeed if Koenma would even be awake, then reminded himself that Spirit World didn't follow the Human World's time. He kicked open the door.

"Hello, Yusuke, I was wondering if you'd drop by." Koenma said without looking up from the stack of papers he was currently "working on."

"Hey, Pacifier Breath! When I don't answer my communicator; DON'T SEND BOTAN AFTER ME! I was in the middle of something!" Yusuke said without preamble.

"So I've heard."

Yusuke swore, he should have known Botan would blab.

"Well, now you know, for future reference."

Yusuke turned to leave, then realized he couldn't.

"Umm..how the hell do I get outta here?"

"Hmm...?"

"Here, Spirit World, the place we're at right now."

"I'll have Botan take you back when she gets here, she's ferrying souls at the moment."

"So I get to spend time with you? Great..." Yusuke said sarcastically.

Well Yusuke thought, since he was there...

"Any details on thae case?"

"What case?"

"The one that has me going to school every day, the one you were even more vague on then usual?"

"OH! Umm..well, you see...there...never was a case..."

"WHAT??"

"You have to understand Yusuke, you are the most powerful human on the planet, we needed you distracted so you couldn't vent your feelings on normal people."

"I should hurt you." Yusuke wasn't really that mad, afterall, had it not been for him being at schoolo he wouldn't have met Kagome.

Botan walked in. Instantly upon seeing Yusuke she began to laugh hysterically. Yusuke, choosing to _try_ and ignore this, focused his attention on her. "Good, your here. I need a ride."

"To where, your girlfriend's house?" Botan said with a cat-like face.

"As termpting as that sounds, no. I just need a ride back to human world. Somewhere around my house maybe."

And so they left. Botan looked back every so often just so she could laugh some more at Yusuke.

"You know, after you interupted us, she got too worried that her mom had seen us and wouldn't start kissing again."

"Oh, how sad...so is she a good kisser?"

"That's none of your business." Yusuke said. A minute passed in silence. "Yes."

Botan giggled the rest of the trip.

"Bye Botan, next time, don't gasp, or giggle." Yusuke said when she dropped him off at her apartment.

"Bye Yusuke!" Botan said happily as he truned to walk into his apartment. "Oh! Wait!" Botan said suddenly, pulling Yusuke's communicator out of her Kimono. "I found this on the ground last night before I took off." She handed it to him.

"Sure thanks." Yusuke said with just a hint of sarcasm.

After getting some more sleep, Yusuke called Kagome, he wanted to make sure her family had no idea he had accidently slept over.

"No, I don't think they know...if they do they're keeping quiet about it."

Yusuke sighed with relief. "You don't regret last night, do you?" Yusuke said. He couldn't get the worry out of his head.

"No."

They talked for a couple more hours before Kagome had to go (something about shopping with her friends).

A week passed. Kagome had informed Yusuke that her family had gone to visit one of her grandfather's old friends. She said that she would be going to join them tomorrow, and that she'd be gone for a while. Yusuke couldn't tell why, but he got the feeling she wasn't being perfectly honest. He decided to ignore that feeling for now, if Kagome was leaving, he was going to spend as much time with her as possible. He pulled on some jeans and a black Tshirt, greased up his hair, and set off for Kagome's house.

He arrived there fairly quickly, but it was already dark out. "_Well, she'll be doing her homework..." _Yusuke thought. He jumped up into the tree outside Kagome's window and was not disappointed. He climbed close on the branch and started to tap lightly on the window.

Kagome heard the tapping, but chose to ignore it, figuring it was just the wind blowing the edge of the branch against the window. She wished it would stop, it was getting a little annoying, but if anything, it seemed to be getting louder. She glanced over. What she saw almost made her fall out of her chair in surprise. Perched on the edge of the branch, was Yusuke. She ran to her window and opened it.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course."

"I told you I was leaving."

"Exactly, which is why we should make the most of your time here."

Kagome simply stared at him in amazement.

"Listen, couldya' let me in, I feel like I'm about to lose my balance."

She stepped back as Yusuke climbed through the window.

"Thanks."

"You could have called first..."

"And lose the element of surprise? No way."

Kagome sighed, she knew Yusuke well enough to know that logic wasn't one of his stronger areas.

"Ok, so here's what I have planned, we spend the night together, I'll leave tomorrow."

Kagome looked worried.

"I'll sleep on the couch and everything, you don't have to worry." Yusuke said, misinterpeting her worry. She was more concerned about how much this was going to complicate things with leaving with the fuedal era, she was actually looking forward to sharing a bed with Yusuke.

"You don't have to, we can both fit in my bed. But no bright ideas! All we're doing is sleeping!" Kagome said.

"Fine by me."

"And I'll be gone when you wake up tomorrow."

"Guess we should get started then, if we have so little time."

"Get start-?" Yusuke kissed her.

At first she was surprised. Yusuke sure didn't mess around. She recovered quickly however, and responded with as much passion as him, if not more. This continued for some time. Eventually however, the kiss broke.

"I really hope that's not the only reason you came here tonight."

"It's one of them, but the other reason is I just wanted to make sure I saw you before you left."

Kagome smiled. "_Cocky punk. Thinks he can get away with this."_ she thought. She was moved, however, by Yusuke's desire to be with her, to make sure he saw her before she left on a potentially deadly journey again (of course he didn't know that).

They began making out again. After some time Yusuke began to move his hands up again, Kagome didn't stop him. He moved them back down fairly quickly after they had found their mark. He didn't want to rush Kagome. He'd let her make the next move, when the time came.

They stopped kissing shortly after, it was starting to get a little late. Niether of them had realized how long they had been kissing.

"Maybe we should get to bed..." Kagome said.

Yusuke nodded in reply. He turned around while Kagome got into her pajamas. Then climbed into bed with her. Encircling her with his arms.

Yusuke had come a long way over the last month. He layed in confusion, trying to figure out what emotions he was feeling towards the girl in his arms. They were new to him, although they seemed similar to what he had felt for Keiko, they seemed differant too. _"Am I in love?" _Yusuke asked himself as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Yusuke woke, he could hear movement. Kagome hadn't left just yet. She sounded like she was downstairs, going out the door. He looked out her window in time to see her heading not for the stairs that formed the entrance and exit to the shrine, but to the well house. Yusuke was completely thrown by this, "_Why would she be going in there?"_ Yusuke thought. He headed downstairs.

On the stairs he felt a pulse of spirit energy coming from outside, and Kagome's aura vanished. "What the hell?" Yusuke said outloud. He rushed out to the wellhouse.

Kagome was nowhere to be seen. Yusuke was sure he was in the right place, he could sense it. The well felt strange. Yusuke examined the nearby area for over two hours before deciding what to do. He looked down in the well, a strong sense of foreboding seemed to sweep over him. "_There is no freakin' way this is just a well."_ He would have gone back inside to get his stuff, but Kagome seemed to have taken his jacket, and he didn't need anything else really. "_No use sitting up here worrying about it."_ Yusuke thought, all his instincts were telling him this was a bad idea, but for once he didn't act on them. He wanted to find Kagome, and to be perfectly frank, he was curious.

"Look out below!" Yusuke yelled as he jumped. Instead of hitting the ground, he was enveloped by blue light...

**Ok, that's it for that hellish chapter. As you can probably tell, the action is about to really pick up. Sorry again for that chapter being so crappy, I probably should have split it into 2 chapters...Talk about hindsight...oh well, live and learn. Starting on the next chapter tonight.**

**In response to all my reviewers: Thank you so much! I got excited every time I saw I had a new review. By the way, this fic is Yusuke centric, the rest of the team is going to be gone for a while, thought I should warn some of you now.**

_Next Chapter:__ Secrets Revealed!_

_Please review!_


	4. Secrets Revealed!

Ok, I've really been looking forward to writing this chapter, I would say wish me luck, but considering you're reading this, that'd be kinda pointless

Yusuke looked up, he could see sunlight above him, partially obscured by the leaves of trees above him.. "_What the hell? I'm pretty sure I was just in a well house..." _Yusuke thought. He leapt out of the well.

Kagome let out a small gasp. She had felt something familiar, a pulse of what felt like Yusuke, as if it had materialized out of nothingness. "Something wrong Kagome?" Sango asked her.

"No, it's nothing..." Kagome said worriedly. She tried to convince herself that it was her imagination. Afterall, it seemed to have disappeared almost instantly, and there was no way he could be here.

In truth Yusuke had made efforts to conceal his energy as soon as he sensed more then Kagome. He'd sensed demons; alot of them. As long as nothing saw him while he made his way through this forest he'd be fine, he already missed the city. When he got to the edge of the woods he saw a decent sized village. Judging by the architecture he figured he had somehow traveled through time. He was sure that Kagome was here, somewhere in this time, and the village seemed like a good place to start.

He made his approach.

Arriving in the village made him sure he had gone back in time, the clothes of the villagers were proof of that. He wandered around for a while, not talking to anyone, but attracting alot of stares, until finally one of the villagers spoke to him. She was short, old, and had a patch over one eye. She was carrying a bow and a quiver full of arrows. She seemed wary of him.

"Are ye human or demon?" she asked, her voice laced lightly with threat.

"Umm...Human..." Yusuke was caught off guard by this old lady.

"Then ye must be from Kagome's time." Her voice was much less tense now.

"Yeah, couldya' explain to me what the hell is going on here?"

"Come." She beconed him. He followed her into what he assumed was her house.

She didn't reveal much. She still seemed unsure of whether or not to trust him. She only said that Kagome had been coming to this time for a little under a year, and that she was searching for something valueable with four companions.

"Ye are the first to come here besides her."

"Thanks...umm...what's your name?"

"My name is Kaede, priestess of this village. And who might ye be?"

"Yusuke Urameshi. Detec-" He stopped himself, he didn't want to say too much.

"Well, I'd better get going...Kagome's been getting further and further away, I wanna catch her before night fall..."

"Surely ye can't be thinking of going off alone! There are demons and bandits even on the roads!"

"I can handle a few demons..." Yusuke said. The "ye" thing was starting to get annoying.

"If I cannot dissuade ye..." she said with a sigh, she bagan to rummage for something.

"It's dangerous to go alone, here, take this." She handed him a sword.

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't need it, I've never even used a sword before."

"I insist." Pressing it to him.

"Fine." He said, taking it and putting it and its sheath into his left belt-loop.

Kagome was still worried, it had been an hour since she had felt Yusuke, and she couldn't feel him anymore, but she still couldn't shake the nagging worry. "Are you sure you're ok, Kagome, you seem worried." Sango Said. Kagome mentally slapped herself, she had been letting her emotions show on her face.

"Really, I'm fine." Kagome said, trying to smile.

"I'm not changing my mind!" Yusuke had almost yelled. Kaede seemed intent upon keeping him in the village, she had set him back more then he'd wanted already. "Really, I can handle demons just fine, I do it all the time." He knew Kaede meant well, but she was getting in his way. "Then are ye sure, Kagome and her companions are stalked by a powerful and deadly demon, it would not be wise to get involved."

"..YOU LEFT THAT PART OUT! NOW I REALLY GOTTA HURRY!"

"But-"Kaede began.

"Fine! I'll _show _you I can handle myself!" He let his energy flare up to the point that anymore would have been destructive, his power visibley surrounding him. "Satisfied?"

Kaede merely stared in shock.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said before running off. Kaede had already detained him for a few hours, he cared less about being rude at this point then usual.

Kagome had felt that flare up too, though she was a considerable distance away, so it didn't feel too powerful. "_Just my imagination, I'm just tense and this is the first time I've come back since I've been with him." _Kagome told herself. "Hey, can we pick up the freakin' pace?" Inuyasha's voice broke her train of thought.Miroku moved up to talk with Inuyasha as the entire group quickened its pace.

"You felt that just now, didn't you?"

"Yeah..."

"And about five hours ago?"

"Only for a second."

"I thought as much, I think we should keep our distance, we don't want to be drawn into needless conflict if its an enemy."

Yusuke was running fast, as fast as he could without using spirit energy, he could still feel Kagome, he wanted to catch up...now seemed like a good time to tell her about his detective work, but he was mostly worried. Now he knew she had been fighting demons, for some time. It was a terrible feeling, knowing some one had been fighting demons, but still worrying. He'd have to remember to apologize to Keiko if he ever saw her again, he knew what it was like now.

Inuyasha had increased their group's pace again. He knew everyone else in the group must be getting worn out, they had been traveling at a faster pace then usual, without rest. Sunset wasn't too far away.

Yusuke was gaining on them. He could feel it. He began running with the aid of small amounts of spirit energy. He knew it was only a matter of time. Maybe an hour, jusging by how fast she was moving as compared to him.

The sun was beginning to set now. The group had moved all day without resting or eating. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango had all noticed the energy start to stream when Yusuke began using it. Kagome had begun trying to tune it out. They were all eager to get away, even though it was almost upon them. For all they knew, this was one of Naraku's incarnation. They would have continued to think that if it hadn't been for the sudden swarm of demon insects accompanied by a demon puppet. Naraku wouldn't waste a puppet if an incarnation was on its way.

"Naraku! What do you want this time?"

"The same thing I always want, your head on a platter." The Puppet spoke as it thrust a tentacle at Inuyasha, he jumped out of the way.

Yusuke could barely make out the scene in the distance. He sped up.

Fatigue had effected all of them, even Inuyasha. His group was not fighting with its normal efficiency. Tactics were forgotten, as they jumped, and dodged, and attacked, no one was remembering that Kagome wasn't a fighter. They left her completely unguarded.

Naraku took advantage of their warriness. He lunged a tentacle out for Kagome and grabbed her. She screamed. Naraku squeezed her until she fainted.

"You Bastard, let her go!"

"Ah-ah, come any closer, Inuyasha, and she dies."

"Damn you!"

Inuyasha felt something rush past him, saw a blur accompanied by a swift blue light. He watched as the light sailed straight through the tentacle holding Kagome. He heard the words "Catch Her!"

He obeyed. He caught her just before she hit the gound.

Fury was roaring in Yusuke. This bastard wasn't going to live. He was behind the demon now, it was turning around...

"SPIRIT GUN!"

The puppet was blown to bits.

The group stared on in awe, they weren't sure whether they should be impressed or fightened. This boy had just punched straight through the tentacle holding Kagome, and finished the demon puppet in a single blow.

Their musings were cut short, however, when they remembered the insects, one had almost grabbed the shard controlling the puppet. Inuyasha set Kagome down.

It took him all of one minute to kill the remaining insects and pick up the shard. He looked around to where he had set Kagome. The boy was already kneeling by her limp form.

"Get up." Said a voice behind Yusuke. Yusuke got up, not so much because of the order, more because someone had dared try and command him. He turned around and had an enormous sword in his face.

"Who are you?" Inuyasha said menacingly. This was the source of the power that had been chasing them all day.

"Get that thing the hell outta my face!" Yusuke said, smacking the sword aside.

"I'm not through with you..."

"I don't care."

"Who are you, why have you been following us all day?" Miroku said in a much more diplomatic tone, he wasn't sure he trusted this newcomer either, but he felt that getting hot-headed wouldn't help.

"I wasn't following _you_, I was following _her_." Yusuke said, gesturing to Kagome.

Sango took this opportunity to speak, "Are you Kagome's brother?" she said, looking at the hair color and clothing, Kagome had never really said much about her brother, and this boy _could_ be a year or two younger.

"He can't be, Kagome's brother is alot younger." Inuyasha chipped in.

"Kagome can tell you who I am as soon as she wakes up." He picked her up. Carrying her bridal-style.

After much more arguement, Yusuke convinced them to find shelter, he didn't want Kagome out in the open. They found a shack about a quarter mile away, Kagome was set inside, while Miroku and Sango examined her, Yusuke and Shippo hung back worriedly in the background.

"How is she?" Yusuke asked eventually.

"She may have a few broken ribs, and some bruising, but she should be fine in a couple days."

If only he had learned how to heal people like Botan, or Genkai, or Yukina, or Kurama...how could he never thought to ask any of them how its done? He decided that was the first thing he was going to do once he got back.

He tried to stifle a yawn. He was tired, running all day had taken its toll on even the super human. He was hungry too. Maybe he could manage to steal some food from the group after they all fell asleep.

His stomach growled. He looked down at it, cursing himself, he wasn't going to accept any hand-outs from them, not when they were at odds like this.

"Aren't you hungry?" Asked a small voice.

"Yeah,"

"Then why not ask them for food? I'm sure they won't let you starve." Shippo said.

"Because, I generally don't ask favors of people who shove swords in my face." "_Well, except Hiei, maybe..."_

"Don't let Inuyasha bug you, he's always like that."

"Yeah, well the others don't seem to trust me that much either." Yusuke said, thankful for the fact that they had just left the little fox to keep guard while they went outside.

"Don't take it too hard, we've been tricked before."

"Well, at least _you_ don't seem so hostile."

Shippo scratched his head confuseadly, "Well of course I don't, I know you can't be a bad guy, you saved Kagome."

"It's dangerous to be so trusting." Yusuke said. The fox seemed unabashed.

"Just try and talk to them, we're not bad guys either." Yusuke sighed.

"I'm not leaving Kagome's side..."

"I'll watch her, Inuyasha will smell anything coming anyway."

Yusuke considered this for a moment, it couldn't hurt to get at least a little information. " Call me if there's any change, and if anything happens to her, I'm holding you accountable."

"Yes, sir!" Said Shippo, giving a small salute. Yusuke couldn't help but like this fox.

Yusuke walked outside the shack, to where the other three were sitting, he sat on the ground on the side of the fire opposite the rest.

"Ok, after talking to your little fox friend, I've decided to be a _slightly_ more open. Shoot." He said, looking at them.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Yusuke Urameshi."

"How did you do that attack earlier, I've never seen a human do anything like that."

"I'm not telling you guys the whole story. Best to explain it like this. Any of you ever been to Kagome's time?"

Miroku and Sango both looked at Inuyasha, who said nothing.

"I guess that means you, Dog-ears."

"Feh," was his response. He looked ready to snap.

"I'm sure you can tell there aren't any demons there. Only a complete idiot wouldn't..."

A short pause "Yeah," Inuyasha supplied grudgeingly.

"I'm why."

"You expect us to believe that a punk like you can handle hordes of demons by yourself?"

"Well, not by myself, I have some teammates, and not hordes, though I probably could handle a horde or two." He added with a cocky smirk.

"Demons come from the demon world in my time, I'm not sure why, but I just deal with the dangerous ones that cross over from time to time."

"But how?" Sango asked.

"That's a story for Kagome first."

"How do you know her?"

"That's for her to tell you, not me."

Inuyasha could tell how Yusuke knew her, he could smell her all over him, more then just him carrying her.

"Ok, I've answered your questions, now it's your turn, the old lady in the village didn't give me much information."

"Kaede?"

"Yeah. Her."

"What do you want to know?"

"Your names, for starters."

The black haired man stepped forward first. "My name is Miroku, I am a monk." "And a lecher." said the brown haired woman, she looked slightly older then Kagome. She introduced herself next, "I'm Sango, Demon Slayer." The silver haired one didn't say anything. "The fox boy in there said Inuyasha was the one with the attitude problem, I guess that means you." Yusuke said, trying to piss him off, he hadn't forgiven him for the sword. "That's Shippo, and the one behind you is Kirara." Miroku said. Yusuke turned to see what looked like a two-tailed cat behind him, he could tell that thewre was more to this cat then met the eye. They didn't give him much else besides that, they still didn't seem to fully trust him.

"Right, now that that's outta the way, can I have some food?"

Yusuke ate, he was feeling alot better now, Kagome was safe, he wasn't hungry anymore (the food wasn't too bad either, he had never had fire-roasted fish) Miroku and Sango were fairly likeable as well, Inuyasha remained silent with a murderous look on his face. After a while had passed and it was truely dark outside, Yusuke was still tired, "_I can stay awake until Kagome wakes up,"_ he thought. So, after the third time of seeing Miroku being slapped for grabbing Sango's butt, he stood up. Thinking that Miroku should learn to be content with looking and not touching, he walked into the shack. "I'm gonna look after Kagome a while." He announced.

Shippo was asleep next to Kagome. The atmosphere was a very sleepy one. Yusuke lasted all of five minutes before falling asleep sitting up in the darkest corner of the shack.

"I don't trust him!"

Kagome awoke with a start, immediately feeling pain in her chest. It was very dark outside, she could only see the entrance to the shack, she decided against moving.

"Calm down, Inuyasha. It's obvious he means us no harm. He could be a powerful ally. I see no reason to distrust him."

"How do you know he means us no harm?"

"He saved Kagome. Do you need much more proof?"

"He could just be waiting to steal the jewel shards!"

"He didn't even seem to know what they were."

Kagome's head pounded in confusion, who were they talking about? The last thing she remembered was being grabbed by Naraku, then she woke up here, hours later.

"We should take Kagome and leave now, before he wakes up."

"DISPICAPLE!" Sango nearly yelled. "He seemed genuinely concerned about Kagome!"

"I agree with Sango, Yusuke seems to really care for Kagome. I get the sense he would hunt us down again if we left, anyway."

Kagome was horrified, he _was_ here! How could this have happened? How could he have saved her from Naraku? She was wishing this was a bad dream and began looking around the shack for proof of this, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. She could see his siloette in the corner, there was no mistaking it, not with that slicked back hair.

She began crying. She had lead Yusuke into danger. She had never wanted this. Yet there he was, sleeping peacefully as if he did this every day. She knew she wasn't dreaming from the pain in her chest. Yusuke stirred. No one outside could hear Kagome, they were argueing rather heatedly. She tried in vain to stop crying. Yusuke seemed to be getting restless. In truth his subconcious could feel Kagome's emotions, it was urging him to wake up, to comfort her. He stirred again.

Inuyasha yelled something. Had Yusuke not been nearing being awake then not even this would have gotten him up. His eyes snapped open, and then immediatley to the place Kagome was sitting up.

"Yu...suke..." Kagome choked out.

"Are you ok? How are you feeling?"

"YOU IDIOT!" The argueing outside immediatley stopped, a few formerly sleeping birds took flight in alarm. She looked ready to slap him. Shippo woke up and streaked out of the shack.

"What'd I do?

"You aren't supposed to be here!"

"Oh come on, I'm supposed to go an entire month without seeing you?" Kagome did not relent at his small attemt at humor.

"I saw you go into the well house, you never came out...I got worried. I thought you might have fallen and hit your head or something."

Kagome was dumbfounded, she was used to people (Inuyasha) yelling back.

"But...there are _demons_ here," Kagome said, she hadn't noticed the sword at Yusuke's side yet.

"I noticed, but I can deal with demons, I don't even need this thing." Yusuke said, indicating the sword at his side.

"What?"

"Kagome, there are some things I haven't told you..."Yusuke hesitated, but there was no use in hiding it any longer.

"Remember I said I went into a coma after I saved a little kid from getting hit by a car?"

"Yeah..." She said slowly.

"I lied, I didn't go into a coma, I actually died."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know, wierd isn't it? Anyway, I met the grim reaper, she was the one that we heard giggling when we were kissing by the way, and then I met the Prince of the spirit world, blah, blah, blah, they brought me back, gave me powers, and started me out fighting demons to maintain the balance of the three worlds. I've gotten really good at it."

"I wanted to tell you, but I didn't think you'd believe me."

Kagome stared at him. This just _couldn't_ be real.

"Want proof?" Yusuke said with a smirk. He didn't wait for an answer. He walked over to Kagome, and helped her walk out of the shack, everyone else seemed to have vanished.

"I don't want to do anything major, in case your friends are hiding somewhere." He set her down against the wall of the shack. He powered up. Kagome could feel the force of it, even though Yusuke had walked quite a few feet away.

"I could do more, but I don't wanna blow you away. Pun not intended." Yusuke said, a smile on his face, he loved showing off. "Still worried? If you are then that's too bad, I'm not leaving until you do. Now it's your turn, everyone is really vague when I ask what the hell is going on."

After much more convincing, Kagome told Yusuke the story. He knew more than enough about pride and duty to try and dissuade Kagome from this mission.

"Come on, lets get some sleep, I'm really tired. YOU GUYS CAN COME BACK NOW!" Yusuke yelled the last part. He helped Kagome back into the shack, setting her down on the bedding that had been set up for her. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek, now didn't feel like the time for romantic kissing. He sat back in his original position and quickly fell back asleep.

**Hmm...this capter didn't turn out quite like I wanted it too, but still not bad. It's rare for me to like anything I write. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, I don't have a clear picture in mind for this part of the fic yet, so updates may take longer. I have most of the fic planned out, though. And no, I don't hate Inuyasha, I'm just trying to write him in character, and how he would react to Kagome's new boyfriend, he'll get better. And before anyone questions why I gave Yusuke a sword, the answer is simple, I've always thought he should have one, hell, EVERYONE should have a sword, they're badass, I have another reason, but I can't tell you that. **REVIEW PLEASE!

_And to my reviewers:__ Thank you again! As long as I know I have fans, I'll keep writing. _

_Next Chapter:_ I have no idea yet, and no, that's not the chapter name, I really have no clue what to call it.


	5. Unworthy Opponents

**I had another chapter up in place of this, but I freakin' hated it, it sucked so bad, review responses are at the top this time**

Time on my hands: I can niether confirm nor deny anything you guessed at without giving away spoilers, however, your praise is greatly appreciated.

Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi: Thank you for your review, it is greatly appreciated, however, The rest of the team won't be making an appearance until towards the end, and they won't be getting paired off, the only chance of them being seen in this fic is if I decide to do a short "Where's Yusuke?" thing in one of the chapters. Sorry.

And now to your regularly scheduled fic.

Jessica: Thank you, but as previously stated (like 2 lines up) the rest of the team won't be in this all that much, though Yusuke will talk about them eventually at least

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Yusuke awoke the next morning, slightly confused about where he was. It didn't take long for him to remember everything. He looked around, he was alone in the shack. He walked outside.

Kagome was sitting on the ground next to Shippo. Miroku and Sango nearby (a fresh palm print on Miroku's face), and Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. Yusuke didn't really like Inuyasha, so he wasn't really bothered by this. He instead directed his attention to Kagome.

"Feeling better?" He asked

"Yeah, thanks," The others had told her _exactly_ what had transpired after Naraku had grabbed her, she didn't really know what to say.

"Something wrong?" Yusuke said crouching down to be eye level with her. She was staring at Yusuke with unfocused eyes.

"It's just...you showed up yesterday, right on time..."

"And...?"

"I guess I just wanted to say...thanks." Kagome averted her gaze to hide her red face.

"Like I'd let anyone else hog the glory of saving you."

Kagome smiled at him. Knowing she wouldn't have to thank him again.

"How did you find us?"

"I can sense you where ever you are if I want, so you can't hide." Yusuke said, smiling back. There was silence. Yusuke began to move his face closer to Kagome's...

"Hey Kagome!" Shippo suddenly spout out. Yusuke nearly fell over backwards. He had forgotten that anyone else was there. As much as he liked the little fox, he couldn't help being slightly annoyed.

"Where'd Inuyasha go?" Shippo asked, clearly oblivious to what he had just interupted.

"He said he was going to go make sure the area was safe." said Kagome, she looked slightly embarassed, she had also momentarily forgotten everyone else's presence as well.

"Oh, ok." Shippo said, he scampered off towards Miroku and Sango.

"Have you told them yet? How we know eachother? I didn't wanna tell them in case you didn't want them knowing for some reason..."

"No, I don't think I will, they'll figure it out," Kagome said. The real reason she didn't want to say anything was because she already got the sense that Yusuke and Inuyasha didn't like eachother, and she didn't want to complicate matters if she didn't need to, she might tell Sango next time there was a hotspring.

"So in the meantime we get to sneak around and have to worry about getting caught?" Yusuke asked. Kagome was about to respond when she saw a somewhat evil grin spreading across Yusuke's face. "This is gonna be fun."

Inuyasha returned to camp around noon, after declaring everything in a mile radius to be demon-free. The discussion turned to their next move. Inuyasha was pushing for them to move before nightfall, in case they were attacked. Yusuke however was adamant about remaining in place until Kagome had healed a little more. Everyone else seemed to want to stay out of the line of fire.

"If we don't move then we could get ambushed at any second!"

"That could happen if we move too!"

"We're cornered here!"

"I don't like to run anyway,"

"Miroku, what do you think?"

"While I see Inuyasha's point, I am more inclined to take Yusuke's side, merely for the fact that Naraku would expect us to move."

"Sango, what about you?"

"I think we should let Kagome heal up before moving too."

Kagome didn't like to hear them talk about her as if she were a burden, but there was truth in what they were saying, she was still in quite a bit of pain. They had all already told her that they didn't belive she was fine when she had tried to say she was fine. She chose to stay quiet.

"How do we know he's not just trying to keep us here for Naraku?" Inuyasha asked the group at large.

"SIT BOY!"

Inuyasha was pulled to the ground.

"I told you we can trust him!"

Yusuke was on the ground as well, but he was laughing. He was struggling to hold back tears while he tryed to breath through all the laughter.

"That's the funniest damn thing I've ever seen!" Yusuke barely choked out.

"Maybe we should get you one too!" Kagome snapped, Yusuke stopped laughing almost immediately. She wasn't really that mad at him, but didn't think it would be a good idea to get Inuyasha any more angry.

Miroku, Sango, and Shippo were using all their restraint to keep from laughing, it wasn't just seeing Inuyasha being "sitted" again, but Kagome had silenced Yusuke as well. It was hilarious that she held so much power over these two.

"Well, it looks like you all agree with the new guy!!" Inuyasha said picking himself up. "Don't come cryin' to me if we get hundreds of demons on our asses!" He added as he walked away.

"Fine, if you're not gonna help when that happens then its just more fun for me!" Yusuke called after him. Inyasha responded with "Feh."

Inuyasha returned again just in time for dinner, which consisted of Ramen (Kagome had brought some back with her), and other modern food. Other than Inuyasha chasing Shippo around because he had stolen some of his food, nothing interesting happened.

The next few hours passed with Kagome and the rest of the group (except Inuyasha, who remained silent and withdrawn), sharing stories of their travels with Yusuke. Yusuke, in return, shared his stories with them, leaving out Sensui. Even though he could tell that they had no problems with demons, he didn't feel ready to tell them he was one yet, or that he had died again (he hadn't even told anyone that he had ever died except Kagome).

The time came, as was inevitable, thet they simply grew too tired to continue talking. Everyone except Inuyasha went into the shack and went to sleep. Inuyasha would be keeping guard as usual.

Luckily, his predictions of scores of demons decending upon them did not come true, and everyone awoke the next morning unharmed. Yusuke was shaken awake by Kagome. The first thing he saw wasn't her, however, but Shippo.

"You talk in your sleep," He said, "alot."

"I know," he said sleepily.

Within an hour, they were on the move (Kagome was ok to travel now, as long as she rode on Kirara's back). Yusuke still stumbling along a bit from being tired, he hated waking up this early.

And so they continued walking, it was late in the day, Yusuke was just thinking about dinner when his thoughts were interrupted by Inuyasha.

"I smell smoke," He said.

"I _see_ smoke," Yusuke felt compelled to say as they began to run, there was way too much smoke for it to be a campfire, or even a bonfire.

The source was clear after only a minute or two, a small farming village was up ahead, a few of the huts were on fire. The inhabitants were all tied up, and men with swords were beginning to take women into their carts which were already filled with what looked like everything of value from the village.

Yusuke had seen enough, he took off with an incredible spurt of speed toward the village. Inuyasha right behind him.

"HEY ASSHOLE!" He yelled. The nearest bandit had just began to look when Yusuke's fist connected with his jaw and was thrown into the wall of the nearest hut. Knocking him out cold.

"I don't like it when people with power pick on the weak, but I'll make an exception for you jerks." He announced. The bandits were stunned, one human was challenging all of them, and there were about twenty. Yusuke wasn't alone long however, Inuyasha was at his side almsot instantly.

Even though the half demon was there now, the bandits still figurerd they could defeat the two opposing them. They charged. Yusuke caught the first one's sword with just his thumb and two fingers as it was swung at him. He delivered a kick to the man's chest.

The bandits didn't know what hit them, before any of them had realized what had happened the last one had been scared into running (as there was little to no law in this time no one bothered to catch them). Inuyasha and Yusuke had beaten them all using no weapons.

"What a let down, I didn't even have to try..." Yusuke sighed.

"Don't get cocky because you beat up a couple humans,"

"Don't you think they'll come back? We didn't catch any of them," Yusuke asked, he didn't want to get into it at the moment, when Kagome was almost there (Kirara had stayed back to keep Kagome safe).

"I don't think so, bandits usually don't repeat targets. What would we have done with them even if we had caught any? We can't kill them."

"Let's just untie the villagers,"

Most of them had already been untied by Miroku and Sango, who had seen no reason to jump into the fight. Yusuke was heading to untie one of the ones they hadn't gotten to yet when...

"BEHIND YOU!" Inuyasha cried out.

Yusuke turned around only to have a sword sank into his body. The Bandit he had knocked out had gotten up again and decided to get revenge instead of running. The sword was stuck just barely under his right shoulder. Yusuke's spirit power had prevented it from going in any further then an inch. Yusuke shattered the sword with his left hand and as the criminal stumbled forward, delivered a jaw breaking left-hook into the bandit.

The others surrounded him quickly, Kagome looked as if she was about to cry.

"I'm fine, untie the villagers." Yusuke said. Inuyasha was the only one who listened. The others were still hovering around him, worried expressions on their faces. "I'm fine, really, I've been hurt alot worse then this." Not that this wasn't hurting him.

"You still have a piece of metal lodged in you,"

"Oh," Yusuke said, ripping it out. "Happy now?"

Yusuke eventually managed to get Miroku and Sango to leave him alone, but he had a feeling Kagome could tell he was hurting alot worse then he was letting on.

"How long are you gonna keep bugging me about this?"

"Until you let me treat it."

"I don't need it treated,"

"Will you please let me? It'll make _me _feel better at least." She said.

"Ok, fine, but I don't want anyone else to see, wait until we can get some cover." Yusuke said in barely more then a whisper.

This didn't take long, however, the Headman of the village applauded them for their bravery and offered them rooms in his house, as well as dinner. They accepted, there was no reason not too.

After they had gotten into the house, Kagome asked if their was a private room somewhere, neglecting to mention why. Yusuke follwed after her.

"I wonder where they're off to..." Miroku said with a slight smirk.

"Get your mind outta the gutter, he didn't want anyone to see Kagome treat him, I overheard him say something like that," Inuyasha asid, his ears had picked up bits of the conversation.

Down at the opposite end of the mansion (this house was about as big as the whole village), Yusuke and Kagome slipped into a room, leaving the sliding door slightly ajar since they weren't planning on being here long.

"Ok, I need to steralize the wound before I dress it, and I can't do either with your shirt on, so take it off."

"OHHHH, so that's why you wanted to 'treat' me, you just wanted to see me topless, you could have just asked, you know," Yusuke said. Kagoem rolled her eyes, she probably should have seen this coming. Yusuke took of his shirt.

Kagome was surprised, he was even more well built then she'd thought. Shaking a few new thoughts from her mind, she proceeded to steralize the wound.

"That stings!" Yusuke complained.

"Get over it, it could get infected."

"Fine."

Kagome wrapped the wound in bandages, the second she had finished, Yusuke took her chin in between his thumb and index finger and brought her face up to his. He kissed her for the first time since coming to the fuedal era. He didn't let it go on long however, in case one of the others came looking for them.

But someone had seen. Shippo had walked in right as the kiss began, he ran off before either of them noticed, he was bursting to tell everyone, but if Kagome hadn't said anything, niether was he.

The kiss broke. Kagome said nothing in case Inuyasha could hear them.

"Maybe we should go back, the others will be starting to wonder."

"You're probably right." Yusuke replied.

**Sorry, kinda short, but next chapter shuoldn't be, I have more then a few things in mind so it won't be al improv like this chapter. Which I like this version much better then the other version I had posted**

_**PLEASE REVIEW!!**_


	6. Lessons and Awkwardness

**ok, this chapter wasn't too hard to do, I think it'll turn out ok There's a pretty crappy part in this chapter, but it's necessary, mostly relationship building stuff and settup for future events. And no, there is not going to be anyone added to the Kagome, Yusuke, Inuyasha, Koga, Kikyo love pentagon, you'll see what I mean, but I thought Yusuke should have a sparring partner. By the way, I decided to thicken the sexual tension in this chapter for my own amusement (it makes sense too, both characters are new to this sorta thing) so if you don't like it then you can ignore it Reviewer responses are at the bottom again P**l**e**a**s**e**R**_e_**v**_i_**e**_w!!_

* * *

The night passed without incident, and when morning came, the group set out again, going with praises of every villager they passed. It made Yusuke feel good, he wasn't used to being thanked for saving people since no one ever knew. He started the day in good spirits.

Of course, walking all day was getting to him. He was getting bored, he wanted a fight, anything to break the monotony (even though he had only been with them a couple days) of walking around, apparently aimlessly.

"I'm bored," Yusuke announced.

"Then go home," Inuyasha said back to him.

"And do what? Go to school? Screw that."

Kagome sighed, she was walking next to Yusuke at the moment, she had healed up fairly well, apparently there weren't any bad breaks. Yusuke stopped argueing, he didn't want to annoy Kagome while she was still injured, he'd wait until she felt better.

"So Shippo, what kind of powers do you have?" Yusuke asked, just trying to occupy his mind.

Shippo smiled then transformed into an almost exact copy of Yusuke, the only noticeable difference was Shippo's tail.

"Cool power, kinda wierd though, one of my friends is a fox demon, and his powers aren't anything like that."

"You know a fox demon?" Shippo asked excitedly as he transformed back, he hadn't met any since his father had died.

"Yeah, he controls plants though..."

For the next hour Yusuke was busy answering all kinds of questions about Kurama. Shippo was starting to annoy him. It must have started to show, because Kagome eventually said "Shippo, why don't you go and see if Inuyasha plans on stopping anytime soon?" It was a pretty flimsy excuse, but it worked, Shippo leapt from Yusuke's shoulder, which he had perched on when he started questioning Yusuke.

"Sorry about him, he hasn't met any fox demons since his parents died," Kagome said once Shippo was up front with Inuyasha.

"I was wondering why he was so interested, thanks for getting him to stop though, he was starting to irritate me," Yusuke said quietly.

"I know, you're pretty easy to read."

They traveled on for the next couple of days, nothing happening. Yusuke had not been able to secure any "alone time" with Kagome either. He really wished that either a fight would break out, or everyone would suddenly run off for about ten minutes, he really didn't care which.

He got his wish on the third day after leaving the village. He felt a demon coming, not a particularly powerful one, it seemed about average to him.

"I smell a demon." Inuyasha said. It seemed that his sense of smell was about even with Yusuke's spirit sense.

"It's not really strong," Yusuke said. He was itching to fight, he really didn't care that it was no match for him. "This one is mine."

The demon arrived, right as Yusuke was about to jump into action; Inuyasha pulled out Tetsusaiga and sliced the demon in half.

"WHAT THE HELL? I WANTED THAT ONE!" Yusuke was pissed, he knew Inuyasha had heard him, he'd learned all about the super hearing and smell.

"What's the deal? It was in our way so I killed it,"

"I've been itching for a fight since we left the village!"

"You want one now?"

"Bring it on!"

Kagome's fist connected with the back of Yusuke's head. She hit alot harder then Keiko, Yusuke noticed. "Ha!" Inuyasha said before being dragged to the ground, Kagome had said "sit" almost at once.

"WILL YOU TWO GIVE IT A REST? WE DON'T NEED YOU AT EACHOTHER'S THROATS ALL THE TIME!" She screamed at them.

"Feh, fine, he's not worth it anyway."

"Yeah, there really isn't any point in you getting your ass kicked." Yusuke said.

Kagome let out an exasperated sigh. She knew that this peace wasn't going to last long. Yusuke and Inuyasha were too much alike. She knew Yusuke was on edge from lack of any kind of action. That didn't stop her from being angry at him though.

Yusuke allowed her about an hour to cool down before trying to apologize.

"I'm sorry," he said. He could tell she was still mad. She didn't respond. Yusuke fell into step behind her. Even though he knew he should be feeling guilty at the moment, couldn't help but appreciate how short her skirt was.

"What are you staring at?" Kagome said, glancing back.

"Nothing," Yusuke said, averting his gaze, his face turning pink.

Kagome had a pretty good idea what he had been staring at, but chose not to mention it, she really couldn't be mad, they were a couple afterall, and she had let him actually _touch_ more.

A few more hours passed. Yusuke had fallen back to talk to Miroku and Sango so he wouldn't keep staring at Kagome, he felt bad because he hadn't been meaning to. Eventually the topic got onto the weapons they used.

"Why don't you ever use that sword?" Sango asked.

"Never used a sword before, I don't really know anything about swordfighting."

"Hmm..."

"What?"

"Well, I could teach you the basics of swordfighting..."

"Thanks for the offer, but I like fist fighting."

"I think you should do it," Kagome said. Yusuke hadn't noticed that she had dropped back to join in the conversation. "It couldn't hurt," she added, she really didn't care if he learned it or not, but thought that it might help work out some of his frustration at not doing anything exciting.

"Fine, I guess; could be fun."

So it was decided, Sango would teach Yusuke how to use a sword. They would have started immediately, but Inuyasha was in no mood to stop and make camp early. By the time they stopped it was too late to start, but there was always tomorrow.

Kagome had "convinced" Inuyasha for them to stay there the next day, Kagome wanted to stay there even more now, there was a hotspring nearby. She had a feeling she needed to tell Sango about her and Yusuke. She knew she could trust Sango with this secret.

Yusuke was woken up just past dawn, he tried to fall back asleep, but Sango was persistant. He got up. Sango lead him to a nearby clearing.

"Draw your sword," she said. Yusuke oblidged, he was feeling awake now, he didn't want to admit it, but he had actually been looking forward this.

"Your form is sloppy, stand up straigter," Sango said, walking around him, studying him. "Move your right foot forward, and your left foot back."

And so it went, Yusuke following her instructions. She seemed to have an improvment for him to make to every movement. After about three hours she called a break. It was time for breakfast.

"Good, I'm starving," Yusuke said. Sango was a tough teacher, but Genkai's training had been several times more critical.

"You started already?" Kagome asked as they arrived back at camp.

"Yeah," Yusuke said, sitting down close to her, no one noticed.

"We'll be starting on the basics of defense after we eat," Sango said.

This took a while longer. They only stopped for lunch, and then resumed immediately. Eventually, Sango thought Yusuke was ready, she drew her own sword.

"I'm going to attack you now, defend yourself."

It took Sango one attack to knock Yusuke's sword out of place, and in one swift movement, her sword was at his neck.

"Again."

Yusuke improved quickly, but was still under Sango's level. "We're going to stay here until you can defend yourself effectively." Several tries later, it finally happened. Sango came at him, he perried her first few strikes, and dodged one by jumping back. That was the opening he needed, before Sango could recover herself, Yusuke had his sword placed ready for a kill strike.

"HA! I BEAT YOU!" Yusuke said.

"Good work," Sango said, "That's enough for today, I won't hold back as much next time."

"_Hold back??"_ Yusuke thought, stunned "_She's been kicking my ass, and she was HOLDING BACK?"_

Sango noticed his stunned expression. "If it makes you feel better, if you used your fists, you would probably be able to beat me, you did well for your first time." Yusuke said nothing. They returned to camp, hoping there would be food left.

The sun was down, Kagome seemed to be debating something with herself. Eventually she said, "Sango, there's a hotspring nearby..." Kagome said, Sango could tell she wanted to tell her something. She got up.

"Shipop, make sure these three don't follow us," Kagome said.

"Yes ma'am!" Shippo said.

Yusuke waited until they had dissappeared before asking "Where are they going?"

"To bathe, would be my guess," Miroku answered. He really seemed to be resisting temptation.

"Ok," Yusuke thought for a split second about going to spy on them, then thought better of it, he knew he would feel bad about it later, he didn't really understay _why_ he knew he would feel bad though.

"So...how was it with Yusuke today?" Kagome asked.

"He's a fast learner, he could be a decent swordsman," Sango said, she could tell Kagome was hesitating. "Kagome, what's this about?" She asked.

Kagome took her time answering, letting the hot water wash over her body. "You know why I left last time?"

"It had something to do with Inuyasha, I would assume, but he wouldn't say anything."

"He went back to Kikyo," Kagome said, she was surprised that it didn't hurt more to talk about this. "A couple weeks after I went back a group of older boys attacked me, I really thought they were going to kill me, but Yusuke stepped in and fought them all off."

"Well, he walked me home to make sure I got there safe, and well, he asked me out,"

Sango looked confused at the last statement. "He's been 'courting' me," Kagome supplied.

Sango seemed to be wearing a look of satisfaction. "I thought so..."

"You could tell?"

"Not exactly, but judging by the way you two act together, I thought there must be something going on that you weren't telling us about."

"Do you think anyone else noticed anything?" Kagome asked.

"I doubt it, those two aren't exactly the most observant people on the planet."

"Ok, good, I really don't want Inuyasha to find out yet, him and Yusuke already have enough problems getting along."

"So, how long have you two been together?"

"About a month and a half,"

Back at the campsite, Yusuke was getting restless, he tried to distract himself with small talk, even resorting to talking to Inuyasha.

"You're a half demon, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, that form is in between human and demon, right?"

"So what?"

"Can you change back and forth?"

"No, I'm always like this,"

"Wierd, I ca-know someone that can change between human and demon whenever they feel like it," He had almost let slip that he was part demon.

He was still restless, he had used up a great deal of energy training with Sango, but still couldn't quite contain himself, he thought that running around demon-infested areas would be more exciting.

"Dog-boy, wanna fight?"

"That depends on why."

"I'm bored, I need to burn off some energy."

"Kagome told you two not to fight!" Shippo interupted.

"Fine," Yusuke said, exasperated. He was frustrated in so many ways right now. And NOW, it was starting to rain.

"Damn!" Sango said. She had really been enjoying this hot spring. They quickly got dressed. Her and Kagome left and made their way back up to camp, which wasn't too far.

"Back so soon?" Miroku asked.

"Its raining, sorry we didn't give you a long enough chance to sneak off and spy on us."

"I hate to sound like an ass, but if you were already wet, then what's the problem?" Yusuke ased.

No one seemed to have an answer.

Two hours pased, and the rain finally started to let up. They were surrounded by trees, so they hadn't gotten too wet. Yusuke was messing with his hair.

"What are you doing?" Kagome asked him, looking at him quizzically.

"Trying to get my hair to go back," The rain had just barely gotten the gel out of his hair. It had lasted a few days, Yusuke stole the expensive stuff. Kagome couldn't hold back the giggle. As much as a tough guy as Yusuke was, he was wierd about his hair.

"Ugh, I'm going for a walk." Yusuke said, giving up.

It didn't take long for him to wander outside of the range of Inuyasha's nose, the rain had made it hard for him to catch any scents. Eventually, Sango helpfully said. "Kagome, he's been gone a while...maybe you should go find him and make sure he's ok."

"Why not me?" Inuyasha asked. "I could find the punk alot faster then any of you."

"Because you two are likely to kill eachother if you're left alone," Kagome said, she knew what Sango was getting at, and she was grateful. She hadn't been alone with her boyfriend for any significant space of time since coming back, it seemed like such a long time, when in reality it had been under a week. She grabbed up her bow and arrows and headed off in the direction Yusuke had left.

Yusuke was looking for any demons stupid enough to attack him. He really needed to work out _some_ of his frustrations. He could sense a weak one somewhere nearby, but he could finish it off easily, he decided to leave it alone.

Kagome had cought up to him within fifteen minutes, she could see him walking slowly away. He really wasn't too far. She broke into a run and called out to him. He tunred around and immediately yelled "Kagome! DUCK!" She slipped in the mud. There was a demon behind her, the weak one Yusuke had sensed. A simple fat ogre-cyclops with a club. "Spirit gun," he said almost lazily, giving it very little power. The demon ran off, Yusuke hadn't meant to make a kill shot. Kagome got up, mud down her front.

"He wasn't that tough, I think I could have repelled him." Kagome said, coming closer to Yusuke.

"Yeah, but I love to play the hero," Yusuke said.

"You know, that shirt's gonna stain, you should probably take it off and wash it somewhere," Yusuke added mischeviously.

"Nice try," Kagome said.

"Thought it would be worth a shot." They looked at eachother in silence for a moment...

Yusuke pinned Kagome against the nearest tree, kissing her fiercely. She responded accordingly. How much time passed was anyone's guess. Next thing she knew was that some one was calling her name.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice was calling through the semi-darkness. They broke the intense kiss. "I'm gonna to kill him," Yusuke whispered. He knew that this had probably been there last chance to be alone together for a while.

"What?" Kagome answered Inuyasha, barely managing to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

Inuyasha came close enough to see them, Yusuke and Kagome had stepped away from eachother. There was no sign that they had been doing anything more then talking.

"There's a demon wandering around, it's not safe to go off alone."

"I'm not alone,"

"I didn't know that!"

"I can take care of myself, you know!"

Yusuke let out a sigh. He hated to admit it, but it was him going off that had caused Kagome to be alone, if that demon had shown up just a few seconds earlier, Kagome might not have been able to take care of it. Well, he'd tell Kagome not to come chasing after him agin if they weren't in a safe zone later, when Inuyasha wouldn't be able to sneer at him. He knew it would make Kagome mad.

The trio made its way back to camp. Yusuke staying quiet for once. As soon as they arrived back Kagome sat next to Sango, Yusuke randomly on the ground nearby.

"Sorry, I tried to stop him," Sango whispered.

"Thanks, at least we got a little time alone."

Yusuke smirked, at least Sango knew now, it seemed, that would just make things easier next time...maybe he would plan it...

* * *

**Ok people, first things first, REVIEW!! If I don't start to get even a couple more per chapter then I'm gonna be a little disappointed, which will take my heart outta this fic (which may have happened already without me noticing), so please review. Anyways, not so much sexual content next chapter. MORE VIOLENCE!**

_Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi:_ Thank you, I have every intention of seeing this fic to the end...

_**NEXT CHAPTER:**__ First Encounter with..._

REVIEW PLEASE! I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE GOOD OR BAD, just be gentle if you're going to criticize me.


	7. First Encounter with

**NOTICE:** I realized something, I had a major hole in the plot, and since I don't know how to fill in said hole, I had to move some stuff up, that list of what I moved up will be at the bottom, along with review responses. By the way, the kissing scenes will be popping up less often, it will be implied unless I have a huge urge to write one, I dunno, I have trouble with them (along with battle scenes, sex and violence, go figure, but I may be too critical of my own work), also it needed to be done in this chapter, you'll see why. I also wanted to say that I happened to be in a bad state of mind (I was pissed off at something else) when I posted the last chapter, which lead to my whole review plea, though I still appreciate anyone taking the time to review.

I don't like how most of this chapter turned out except the end. But then again, I generally don't like anything I turn out. Ok, enjoy.

* * *

A week had passed since the rainy day at the hotspring, and Yusuke's first sword lesson. He hadn't been able to be alone with Kagome since, but had at least managed to get into a few more fights (as well as a few more training sessions, Sango could still kick his ass though), so he wasn't really on edge. He was finding Inuyasha _slightly_ more tolerable as well. Kagome had accepted that if she ever let them be alone, they would probably fight, she just had to make sure that didn't happen. Overall, Yusuke was fairly pleased with the way things were going. The only major drawback was his lack of time with Kagome, he still didn't know why she wasn't telling everyone.

They stopped around midday, they had realized they were getting low on supplies. Kagome hadn't brought enough food to feed all of them for a long period of time back with her, and they were all sick of fish. They were low on medicinal herbs as well.

"Ok, we make camp here, we'll split up and look for supplies," Inuyasha said, "Me and the punk will scout out the area for any demons nearby, Sango, you go with Kagome and the two of you can look for herbs. Miroku, you take Shippo and look for any food."(He rarely called Yusuke by name)

"Inuyasha, that grouping makes no sense." Sango said.

"Why not?"

"You and Yusuke will kill eachother, and Miroku has no means of finding any animals without a strong sense of smell, or any hunting skill, no offense." She added.

"Well, I don't see anyone else coming up with anything!"

"How about this, you go scout for demons alone, I'm sure you can handle anyhting around here. Me and Miroku will take Shippo and Kirara and go look for food, her nose should be powerful enough, and Kagome can look for herbs, Yusuke can protect her." Sango rose instantly into Yusuke's top ten favorite people.

"Feh, fine."

They split up. Each group going in seperate directions. Yusuke was all for blowing off the search and just taking this for "quality time" with Kagome, but she insisted they find the herbs. So Yusuke took this time to talk instead.

"Why are you so concerned with finding some plants anyway?"

"They can help cure poison, fight infection, and heal wounds."

"Oh come on, how often could you possibly use those?"

"...I've used them on you already!" Kagome said, how could Yusuke possibly not remember this?

"When?"

"When you got hurt, you know, you were stabbed in the shoulder, ring any bells?"

"Oh yeah..." He had discarded the bandages the first chance he got, he was an extremely fast healer.

Kagome just stared at him sideways, she knew Yusuke wasn't the best with remembering things, but to forget something like that was rediculous.

It was a while before they found anything. Yusuke and Kagome hadn't really been paying attention, they were both too engrossed in their conversation. Kagome had managed to spot some however, and put them in her pack.

"There, you found some."

"You're relentless," Kagome said.

"Hey, I am a guy you know, I have needs," Yusuke said playfully, he wasn't really disappointed that him and Kagome weren't doing anyhting besides talking, they hadn't been able to talk freely for a while. He started walking backwards, so he could walk while looking at Kagome.

He stayed like this for a while, Kagome was surprised he could keep from hitting anything, or tripping, the roots of the forest they were in were sticking out of the ground all over.

"You know, you really shouldn't walk like that." Kagome said as the roots thickened even more.

"Why not?" Yusuke asked.

"Because, you could-"

"Ungh," Yusuke landed hard on his back.

"...Trip over a tree root..." Kagome finished. She held out a had to help Yusuke up. She had barely realized what hapeeded when she caugfht herself. Yusuke hadn't gotten up, he had pulled her down ontop of himself.

"What if I hadn't caught myself?" She asked.

"Then you'd probably be unconcious right now, I got a hard head." He hadn't even thought about that, but even if he had, he probably would have taken the risk anyway. Kagome was still ontop of him. His face got more serious, he hadn't been planning this, he had just been messing around when he pulled her down. "And now I'm going to kiss you," he said.

A few minutes passed with them kissing before...

"Ahem." Sango cleared her throat.

They parted so quick that the motion was barely noticeable. Kagome got off Yusuke, extremely red in the face. Yusuke simultaeniously looking both pleased and annoyed.

"I'm surprised, Yusuke, I had no idea you were such a ladies man." Miroku said, an impressed smirk playing about his face.

"Do you guys want something?" Yusuke asked.

"We found some food, we thought you might like to eat, so we came looking for you." Shippo sounded embarassed but unsurprised.

Yusuke let out a sigh, so now Miroku and Shippo knew too. On the plus side, they wouldn't have to sneak so much anymore. On the minus, Yusuke knew this session was over.

"We'll be along in a few minutes," Kagome said.

The others walked off.

"Do you think we should just go ahead and tell Inuyasha?" Yusuke asked.

"No, it'll end up complicating things." They began to head off to camp, Yusuke was trying to figure out how it would complicate anything, they were nearing camp when he ended up asking.

"How would it complicate anything?"

Kagome hesitated, the time to come clean had to be now. "Well..."

"Tell me later," Yusuke whispered. He could see Inuyasha, and apparently Kagome had her reasons for not telling him.

They stayed there for the night, Yusuke was really starting to wish they had a tent. Sleeping out in the open made him feel vulnerable. Well, maybe there would be a village they could stay at soon at least. That'd also let him be alone with Kagome some more. He wanted to hear about this situation with Inuyasha, he couldn't thhink of any way Inuyasha knowing would be complicated.

The next day they began traveling as usual, it wasn't far into the day when Yusuke sensed something. He stopped walking, Inuyasha stopped too.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked

"Naraku." Inuyasha said.

"You said Naraku was extremely powerful," Yusuke said, whatever was coming was powerful, but Yusuke could tell that Inuyasha could have taken whoever this was alone, though the fight would have been a difficult one.

The wind picked up at an alarming rate. A woman floated down on a feather.

"Kagura." Inuyasha said.

"Inuyasha, it's been too long." Was her reply.

"Who the hell are you?" Yusuke asked.

Kagura merely glanced at Yusuke.

"She's one of Naraku's incarnations." Kagome said.

"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked.

"I've come to see who your new companion is, I expected someone more powerful."

"I'll show you power!" Yusuke yelled as he jumped into action. He delivered an uppercut to Kagura's jaw before she had even seen him move. She flew into the air, but managed to land with a graceful mid-air backwards somersault.

"Dance of Blades!"

Yusuke threw his arms up to block. The blades of wind left shallow cuts.

"Is that all?"

"Insolent brat! Dance of the Dragon!" Kagura yelled back.

Yusuke was forced to jump back in order to dodge. Kagura was keeping him back. None of the others wanted to intervene, for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

The battle was getting out of control. Yusuke hadn't landed a hit since the intitial uppercut, whereas Kagura had managed to hit him several more times. He wasn't giving this fight his all. "_Maybe its time to take things up a notch,"_ Yusuke said in his head.

"EAT THIS! SPIRIT GUN!" Yusuke fired a shot at Kagura.

Kagura was momentarily surprised, but managed to alter the course of Yusuke's blast with the wind. _"Damn, shoulda figured, that's what Jin did."_

The others chose this time to step in, or at least, those that could (Miroku couldn't use his wind tunnel because of Yusuke's position).

"HIRAIKAOTSU!" Sango yelled as she hurled the giant boomerang at Kagura, who blew it aside, the gust blew Yusuke back as well.

Kagome was just beginning to draw an arrow...

Kagura spotted her. She sent her wind blades flying right at her.

"Kagome!" Yusuke cried in desperation, terror gripping him. She wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time.

_CLANG. CLANG. CLANG._

Inuyasha had jumped in front of her and blocked with Tetsusaiga.

"Forget about me?" Inuyasha asked.

Yusuke charged Kagura, earning a few new cuts as she tried to stop him. He delivered a flurry of punches to her abdomen, and sent her a few feet back with his trademark right hook.

"Damn." Kagura said as she caughed up blood. She drew a feather out of her hair and retreated.

"You're not getting away!" Yusuke yelled. He fired another Spirit Gun, but she was too far away, he missed.

"DAMN IT!" Yusuke cursed.

Yusuke began walking over to Kagome, he was shaking, that had been too close. He wanted to embrace her, to apologize for screwing around and putting her in danger, he didn't even care that Inuyasha would be watching.

"You dumbass! Kagome could have been killed!" Inuyasha raged at him before he could make it to her. Yusuke realized what would have probably happened had Inuyasha not been there, and he was extremely grateful, not that he'd tell Inuyasha that.

"What the hell were you thinking? I know you weren't taking that fight seriously at the beginning!" Inuyasha kept yelling. Kagome was afraid that Yusuke would snap and punch him, but she was surprised, Yusuke was just standing there taking it.

After a short time even Inuyasha seemed galled by Yusuke taking it, he didn't really know Yusuke that well, but he was sure he wasn't the type to just let some one yell at them, not unless they thought they deserved it (and for Yusuke to acknowledge fualt, that meant something).

"Feh, just don't screw around next time."

Yusuke didn't answer.

They made camp early that night. Yusuke had a distant stare and barely touched his food. This escaped no one's notice, but no one mentioned it. A long time after they were done eating Kagome finally went over to him (he had been sitting further away from even her).

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly.

"Nothing."

"You're a really bad liar."

"Really, don't worry about it."

"Too late, you're acting really wierd." Yusuke wasn't being his usual loudmouthed, cocky self at all, it was slightly fritening to her to see this change.

"I don't know what your talking about."

"Out with it already."

Yusuke waited a moment before responding. "Inuyasha was right, I wasn't taking that fight seriously enough, you could have been hurt, or killed."

"One of these days," Kagome began, "You'll see that I have powers of my own and that I'm not always a damsel in distress. I can take care of myself." She was slightly offended, true Yusuke hadn't seen her powers yet, but she had survived all this time in the fuedal era, and Inuyasha hadn't always been able to save the day, did he really think that she was that weak?

"It's not just that. I should have taken her out, one less damn thing to worry about, I could have beaten her. Now she'll be back, and you'll be in danger again."

Kagome quickly glanced to make sure Inuyasha wasn't looking then moved to kiss Yusuke; he turned his head to the side to avoid her lips.

"Sorry, not in the mood. I just wanna be left alone for a while."

Kagome sighed, Yusuke was too damn stubborn for his own good some times (well, most of the time, really). She went over to sit with the others, it was no use arguing with him.

The next day started early for Yusuke. Sango tried to distract him by teaching him more about swordsmanship, but quit in less then an hour. He wasn't putting any real effort forward, there was no use continuing.

They began moving shortly after. Yusuke lagged behing everyone else. Inuyasha even tried to talk to him.

"You made a mistake. We all do, stop being such a whiney little bitch and get over it ya jackass."

Yusuke knew Inuyasha was trying to make him feel better in his own messed up way. Maybe it was the fact that him and Inuyasha were constantly at odds that made this so effective. He still didn't feel completely normal, and he still didn't really like Inuyasha. He didn't dislike him as much as he did when tyhey first met, one more thing could still tip the scale, but it would take something _reeaaalllly_ bad for that to happen.

By the end of the day, with the collabrative efforts of the group (including Kirara), Yusuke felt about normal again, but he hadn't forgotten his mistake. He wouldn't screw around like that again.

They were sitting around the campfire, nothing was really going on. Inuyasha was leaning against a nearby tree, his eyes shut, he was relaxed. The atmosphere was an overall positive one.

Kagoem was about to call Inuyasha over to join in the fun when it happened. His eyes snapped open, he began sniffing the air, his expression unreadable.

"What's wrong?" Miroku asked.

"Nothing," Inuyasha said before adding "I'll be right back." He leapt off into the night.

"I wonder what's up with him." Sango said.

"Who knows? Maybe he smelled a cat." Yusuke said.

After Inuyasha not returning for ten minutes, however, everyone was starting to get concerned. Yusuke still hadn't sensed any demons.

"I'm going after him, I'll be back soon." He said. He too tore off into the night.

It didn't take Yusuke long to reach him, he had moved fast. Upon seeing Inuyasha, however, he immediately jumped behind a tree. Inuyasha was standing there, but he wasn't alone. Yusuke had glimpsed a woman too, a woman that looked similar to Kagome, but older, sadder. Only an idiot would stay there and listen. Yusuke made sure he was completely hidden by the tree and strained his ears.

"Inuyasha, you said you chose me over that girl..."

"I did, my decision hasn't changed." Inuyasha said, even though his feelings were just confused as always. Him and Kikyo were oblivious to Yusuke's presence.

"And yet you still travel with that girl,"

Yusuke's brain was starting to connect the dots. Slowly, he was seeing things just a bit plainer.

"That's all," Inuyasha said.

"Inuyasha, that girl may be my reincarnation, I may have a piece of her soul, yet we are not one in the same. Could it be that you still have feelings for her?"

Yusuke had put it together, so many more things made sense now. His anger was beginning to boil over.

"Kagome is nothing to me now! She's only here to help with the search for Narak-"

Yusuke could barely keep his anger under control now. _NO ONE _should _EVER_ call Kagome "nothing." He stepped out from behind his tree as Inuyasha was still talking. Both were caught completely offguard, even Kikyo betrayed a look of surprise. Inuyasha's surprise was replaced with rage almost instantly.

"You should run along now," Yusuke directed at Kikyo, his voice dripping with venom, his face showing his displeasure. He turned to Inuyasha and cracked his knuckles, "Me and Inuyasha need to have a nice friendly talk."

* * *

Evil aren't I? Leaving you there? Sorry this chapter took so long, I'd like to say I have a good excuse, but in reality, I bought a new game, and I've been playing the hell outta it instead of writing. Next chapter may or may not take that long, depends on my inspiration. PLEASE REVIEW!

_**Time on my hands:**_ Thanks for the review, hope this chapter keeps you satisfied.

_**Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi:**_ Thank you very much

_**Jessica:**_ Sorry, but I can't tell you if, how, or why anyone will figure out Yusuke's a demon without potentialy giving stuff away.

_NEXT CHAPTER: _Yusuke vs. Inuyasha


	8. Yusuke vs Inuyasha

There is no possible way I can do this chapter the justice it deserves, but I am putting forth my fullest effort. I wish that I was better at writing fights. Again, I'd say me wish me luck, but that'd imply that you were reading this before I wrote it...

I just realized, I have alot of fluff in this fic between Yusuke and Kagome, oh well, I think it makes sense for them. Please Review.

**Time on my Hands:** I got impatient waiting for this chapter too. I've really been looking forward to it. Your review is greatly appreciated as always.

**Trinity of Kitsune Kunoichi:** Your reviews are also greatly appreciated.

**Raine:** "Oh !" Indeed. Thank you.

**Hissy Cow:** Thank you.

* * *

_The Present_

"I'm sure you all know why we're here," Genkai said. All of Yusuke's group (including Keiko and Shizuru) was at Genkai's temple. "Yusuke's disappeared." It was dark out. They had wanted to hold this meeting when everyone could be there.

"Does anyone have any leads?" She continued.

"We're doing our best, but he's in the wind. If he's in Human World he's keeping a much lower profile then usual." Koenma (in his teenage form) said.

"When was the last time anyone saw him?"

"I saw him at school on Friday a couple weeks ago." Kuwabara said.

"I saw him a few days before that when he came by our place to ask baby bro for some money. Wanted to take his new girlfriend out." Shizuru said, providing slightly more information then Kuwabara.

"I haven't seen him since three days before I left." Keiko said, she seemed shaken.

"I saw him last on the same day as Kuwabara, he intended to say goodbye to his girlfriend. He said that she was leaving for a while. I got the impression he intended to stay there for the night." Kurama provided, calm as ever.

"I saw him when he came to Spirit World last. I believe that's when Botan saw him last as well." Koenma said. Botan agreed.

"Hiei, you haven't said anything." Kurama pointed out.

"Hn. What should I care? If he's been captured or killed it's his own fault for being too weak." Keiko started to cry. It had killed her to leave Yusuke, even though she had started to realize they were better friends than lovers, he was still her best friend. She felt responsible on some level, even though there was no way it was.

Yukina let out a gasp, a shocked expression on her face. Hiei suddenly looked sorry.

"I last saw him when he asked me to open a portal to Spirit World." Everyone took that to mean "sorry."

"We know he's not dead; Puu is alive." Genkai said. "Judging by how Puu's been acting I'd say Yusuke is happy overall. Right now I'm sure he's about to start fighting, though." Puu had a furious look on his face (which was surprising, considering he was in his smaller, cuter form at the moment), and he looked ready to bite anyone that came close, he seemed to be growling.

"Back on topic, what do we know?"

"Well, it seems that his disappearance seems to be linked to that night with his girlfriend." Kurama said.

"She could be involved, but it could just as likely be a coincidence." Koenma said. "He didn't say much to me about her, what do we know about _her_?"

"Yusuke seems quite taken with her. She definitely has alot of power to sway his emotions." Kurama responded.

"He stopped going up to the roof at school so he could see her." Kuwabara said.

"She's powerful." Hiei said. Everyone looked at him.

"She has a very high level of spirit power for a human. Still a weakling." He explained.

"Strange..." Koenma said.

"Do you think they eloped?" Botan said out of nowhere. Everyone seemed to consider her, until Keiko spoke.

"No, Yusuke's not the type, he wouldn't care, he'd tell the world, and if they had a problem, then he'd fight them."

"Yeah, Urameshi wouldn't get married without telling us about it."

"He's not anywhere in Human World." Hiei said.

"How do you know?"

"I know," his Jagan glowed under his bandana.

"...Have you been looking for him?" Kurama asked.

"So what if I have? I still have my revenge to consider." Hiei said, he should have figured Kurama would figure it out.

"Hiei, you are the only one of us to actually have been near this new girl, she is a human, right?" Keiko asked.

"Of course she is."

"So we don't know where he is, if this new girl is involved, or if he's in danger." Genkai said.

"We're pretty much flying blind," Koenma said.

"Let's just hope he can win this fight." Genkai said as Puu gave a particularly loud growl. There was no doubt about it, he was fighting

Keiko got up and left the room. She had been fighting tears since Hiei's remark earlier. Shizuru gave her a minute before following.

"Hey kid," she said.

"Hi Shizuru," Keiko said, trying to hide her face.

"How you holdin' up?" Shizuru said.

"What do you mean?"

"Cut the bullshit, honey."

"I'm worried about him. The last time I saw him I could almost feel his heart breaking. What if he's in danger and that was the last time I ever saw him?"

"You worry too much," Shizuru said as she lit up a cigarette. "He's tough, you know that better then anyone, and you heard Genkai, where ever he is, he seems to be happy, isn't that what matters?" She stalled a moment. "That's not exactly what I was getting at though..."

"Hunh?"

"Are you ok, him being with some one new?"

Keiko considered this for a moment before answering. "I think so, we really never were cut out to be a couple. He was always fighting, and I couldn't stop him. I think I'm ok with just being friends."

"That's good to know, because I have a feeling this fight he's in is over her." Shizuru said, her spiritual perception unveiling it's fullest extent.

_The Feudal Era_

"You should run along now," Yusuke directed at Kikyo, his voice dripping with venom, his face showing his displeasure. He turned to Inuyasha and cracked his knuckles, "Me and Inuyasha need to have a nice friendly talk."

Kikyo didn't waste time getting out of there, she wasn't afraid, but she could feel the fighting energy in the air, and this newcomer was an even match for Inuyasha, she didn't want to affect the outcome.

"I was wondering why you were such dick to me, I bet you could smell Kagome all over me." Yusuke said, he was standing directly opposite Inuyasha, he was trying to provoke him, he wanted him to attack. Inuyasha was letting out a noise like a growl.

"But why do you care if me and Kagome are together? Looks to me like you have some one else. Can't make up your mind? Here I thought dogs were _loyal._"

Inuyasha was reaching his breaking point.

"This does help explain a few things though, like why she didn't want to tell you, even though everyone else knows. I never would have thought anyone would have it in them to do that to some one as perfect as Kagome. Only a complete moron would let her go."

He was going to crack soon.

"And here I was starting to like you, especially after you protected Kagome, but I get it now, you weren't protecting _her_, you were protecting her _soul. _Like you said, she's nothing to you, you're-" Yusuke was cut off by Inuyasha's claws, which grazed his chest as he jumped back.

Yusuke responded with a punch to Inuyasha's jaw, landing the first real hit of the fight. He paid for this, Inuyasha made a much more substantial cut in Yusuke's stomach, blood falling slowly from the spot.

The battle got more heated. Yusuke had started throwing spirit punches. After taking two to the abdomen, Inuyasha managed to get behind Yusuke. "IRON REAVER!" he yelled as his claws scraped down Yusuke's back. Yusuke spun around, but Inuyasha had already jumped back. It was time to even the score. "SHOTGUN!" he yelled, sending his energy in a scattered shot. Most of it missed.

Both were injured now. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga, Yusuke drew his sword subconsciously. Yusuke's sword survived contact with Inuyasha's three times before breaking in half. This was dangerous. He had to end it. He jumped back and pointed the index finger on his right hand at Inuyasha and started charging his Spirit Gun. Inuyasha noticed, he too jumped back and got ready to use his attack as well.

"SPIRIT GUN!"

"WIND SCAR!"

They roared at the same time. The attacks collided, exactly equal in power (both had been subconsciously holding back), and exploded. Both fighters were knocked back and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kagome let out a gasp. The force of those attacks could be felt for a couple miles around (not to mention heard). She knew they had fought. The question was: was it over? Who would win? Was the other one going to be killed? Kagome shuddered, she got up to rush to the scene, to try and stop them if it wasn't already to late, but found Miroku and Sango holding her back.

"Kagome, there's nothing you can do, we all knew this was going to happen eventually. If you go youll just be in danger."

Kagome kept struggling for a few more minutes, there were no more sounds, no signs of battle. She slowly sat back down, she wanted to cry (and part of her wanted to throttle Inuyasha and Yusuke).

Yusuke came to first. He was still bleeding, he was bruised, there would be no hiding this fight. He picked up the remains of his sword. He saw Inuyasha on the ground nearby. He waited for him to wake up.

"I think we might have gone a little overboard..." Yusuke said. He had just blown off a huge amount of steam.

"Feh, just be glad you're alive." Inuyasha was about to sheath Tetsusaiga when he noticed something.

"You cracked my sword!" He yelled.

"I think that was the explosion, so its your fualt too." They began the walk back to camp, it took a while. Yusuke was limping. They were both bruised and bloody. There would be no hiding this.

"Before we get back, I'll give you fair warning: insult Kagome like that again, and I won't hold back." Yusuke said. Inuyasha said nothing, but Yusuke could tell he understood.

They got back to camp. Kagome was waiting for them.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU TWO??" Kagome yelled at them for some time. She hadn't seen the wound on Yusuke's back, and his shirt was absorbing all the blood, if it wasn't black then Kagome might have stopped yelling before he collapsed. He of course hadn't said anything about it.

When Yusuke woke up next he was laying ontop of a sleeping bag, his shirt was off, and he was wrapped in bandages.

"What happened?" he asked, not even knowing if anyone was around him.

"You passed out from blood loss. _Why _didn't you tell me you were injured?" Kagome said, all the others were gone.

"I didn't think about it."

There was a long silence.

"So what exactly is the deal with Kikyo, or whatever her name was?"

Kagome was stunned, Inuyasha had given no details on their fight.

"Sh-she was there?"

"I told her to get lost, I'd heard enough to guess some of what's been going on." His voice was icy.

"Yusuke, I never meant for you to find out this way," She was hurt, she could tell Yusuke was upset too, he was just displaying it as anger.

"Oh really? How did you want me to find out?"

"I tried to tell you, but there was never a chance. The one time I had the opportunity, Inuyasha ended up being too close, and he would have heard us."

"You could have told me the first night I was here."

Kagome looked ready to cry again. Yusuke saw a single tear drop.

"_Shit! I made her cry! I'm such an ass!"_Yusuke thought, his shame suddenly showing on his face.

"I'm sor-" Yusuke began.

"Don't worry about it, I'd be mad too..."

"Let me apologize!" Yusuke said. Kagome had to supress a smile, Yusuke really was an idiot, but he was _her _idiot, and she knew he had just been venting his frustration.

"I'm sorry, you tried to tell me, I'm an ass."

Kagome sighed. "_At least he won't go all depressive again."_Kagome thought.

"Where are the others?" Yusuke asked.

"I asked them to give us a little privacy right after they helped me patch you and Inuyasha up."

"Inuyasha knows," Yusuke said.

"I figured,"

"You know what that means right?"

"That you two are going to be at eachother's throats even more now?"

"I think he knew all along. I think he could smell you on my clothes. I didn't have the luxury of changing before I came here."

Kagome's eye's widened, how had she not thought of that?

"You never answered my question, what's the deal with Kikyo."

Kagome told him the story. Yusuke hadn't forgiven Inuyasha for his statement against Kagome, but he did start to see why Inuyasha could be a jerk sometimes.

"Naraku's a bastard." He said. Kagome could tell Yusuke was still a little hurt, even though he didn't express it.

"You have no idea." Kagome said. "The others will be back soon," she added.

They were back less then a minute later. Nobody said anything, they all just got ready to sleep. Kagome couldn't use her sleeping bag, Yusuke had bled on it. She wasn't as tough as the others, and it was a cold night. She shivered. "Come here," Yusuke said as he wrapped his arms around her, exactly as he had done that night two weeks ago in her bed. He may still be upset, but he was hiding something at the moment too, so he really had no right to be mad.

"I'm glad Inuyasha knows..." Yusuke whispered in her ear, just before he fell off to sleep.

"_Does he really think that Inuyasha won't get jealous still?"_She thought, she wasn't nearly as tired as Yusuke. She layed in her boyfriend's arms for a long while before finally drifting off herself.

"Grr...WAKE UP!" Was Yusuke and Kagome's alarm. It was still very early.

"Why so early?" Yusuke asked.

"Cuz some jackass cracked my sword."

"Bite me, you broke mine in half." Yusuke said.

"We gotta go get it fixed."

"So wait, we actually have something to do besides going around, looking for leads?"

"Yeah,"

"About freakin' time!" Yusuke exclaimed, not noticing the glares he recieved from most of the rest of the group.

They set out, Yusuke with new heart. He didn't care how mundane the directive, at least it was _something_. "So, why can't we take it to any random blacksmith?" He asked.

"In case ya haven't noticed, my sword ain't exactly normal. Not just anyone can fix it."

"Hunh, never really thought about that..." Yusuke said.

"_Are they being nicer to eachother?"_ Kagome asked herself. Was it possible that they had worked out all the animosity?

"That's because you're a moron." Inuyasha said.

"_Guess not."_

Yusuke made a noise that signified he really didn't care what Inuyasha had just said. Yusuke dropped back to talk to Kagome.

"So, you're not still mad that me and Inuyasha fought ?"

"Of course I am. The only reason I didn't knock some sense into you is because you're already too injured."

"Haha," Yusuke laughed in a semi-mocking way.

"You're not off the hook, I'll think of something." Kagome stated. That was a promise.

"I'll stay on my toes then, but what about Inuyasha, he gets to walk away from this?"

"No, all I have to do is tell him to 'sit' when he least expects it."

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR??" Inuyasha roared. He hadn't been listening to the conversation.

"Sorry about that," Kagome said, a nervous smile on her face.

"You know, I never noticed this before, but you're kinda evil when you wanna be." Yusuke said.

Kagome smiled innocently. She had already planned her revenge on him, now she just had to wait.

A few hours passed. They seemed to be walking towards a mountain way off in the distance. Smoke was rising from it. Yusuke may not have been the brightest person in the world, but he could put two and two together.

"Question: Why are we heading towards a Volcano?"

"That's where Totosai lives."(spelling?)

"In a volcano?"

"Yes."

"So we're going to see a charred corpse?"

"Well, ON the volcano would be more accurate." Miroku said.

"I'm just gonna guess this Totosai is the guy that's gonna fix Fido's sword."

"Obviously." Inuyasha said irritated. He didn't know what "Fido" meant, but he was sure it was some kind of insult.

It was nearing sunset when they finally arrived at the base of the volcano. There was a path, surrounded by lava, leading up to what looked like a hut made of a hollowed out rock. They walked through the shhet that served as a door. No one was there.

"You have got to be freakin' kidding me." Yusuke said.

"He's not here..." Sango said.

At that moment Inuyasha smacked his own face.

"What'd you do that for?" Yusuke asked. A different voice answered.

"Ah, Lord Inuyasha, your blood is as delicious as always."

"Myoga..." Inuyasha said angrily.

Yusuke came up to see who was talking and found himself looking in Inuyasha's palm.

"Is that a talking tick?" Yusuke said, pointing.

"It seems you've gained a new companion as well.." he jumped onto Yusuke's outstretched finger and began drinking his blood. Yusuke flicked him away with his other finger.

"You know, I always enjoy part-demon blood the most." Myoga said. Everyone assumed he was referring to just Inuyasha.

"Ok, so where's Totosai?" Inuyasha asked.

"He said he had some things to gather, he should be back shortly."

"Good. I don't want to be around longer then I have to." Inuyasha said.

Totosai arrived in a matter of minutes.

"Inuyasha, to what do I owe this visit?" Totosai said in his croaky voice.

"My sword is cracked, I need it fixed. Quickly." He said, handing the sword over. Totosai inspected it.

"Tetsusaiga fought a battle it did not want to fight. Who is the person that did this?"

"That'd be me," Yusuke said, speaking for the first time since Totosai had arrived.

"AHHH! When did you get here?" Totosai said, supposedly surprised.

"He's been standing there the whole time!" Inuyasha said, hitting Totosai in the back of his head.

Totosai inspected him. Yusuke didn't know if he was imagining it, but there was something knowing in his large eyes, as if he knew...

"Hmm...you are powerful, to have done this to the great Tetsusaiga. Was it that sword that did it?" He said, looking ath the sheathed blade (Yusuke had crammed both pieces into the sheath).

"This thing? Hell no, it broke in like two hits." He said, taking out the pieces.

"Listen, Old Man. I know I just met you, but I've started to like this thing, Could you fix it up real fast?" Yusuke asked. He _had _began to grow attached to the sword, he was even willing to be polite for it (for a short amount of time, at least).

Totosai considered this for a moment. "Very well, I will have them both back to you in two days."

"TWO DAYS? WHEN IT BROKE IN HALF YOU HAD IT BACK TO ME THAT FAST!" Inuyasha yelled.

"I am working on two swords, and when it was broken in half that did not require as much fine detail as this crack will."

"Feh, fine. We'll be back in two days." Inuyasha said before he stormed out.

"Thanks, I owe ya' one, Old Man." Yusuke said as he and the others followed Inuyasha out.

When they weer all gone, Myoga addressed Totosai; "Do you believe they know that _he_ is part demon as well?"

"No," Totosai answered, "he hides it well."

* * *

HELL YEAH! I think I did a good job on that chapter, and I had alot of fun writing it. Next one should be easy enough to figure out one thing that happens from the title.

_NEXT CHAPTER:_ Hungry Like a Wolf.

(Not a song-fic chapter, don't worry, I don't like those) Please review.


	9. Hungry like a Wolf

I loved last chapter so much. But I still have a couple of arcs left to write to. Not much to say on this chapter, although I anticipate it to be a nightmare to write. By the way, Kagome's revenge is based on true events (i.e. my ex-girlfriend did it to me). Enjoy. By the way, the "Yusuke looses his shirt" thing is something I took from the series, I can't be the only one to notice that Kurama seems to be the only one capable of staying fully clothed. It's ridiculous. Review responses at the bottom.

_**WARNINGS:**_ Explicit language and slight citrus flavor.

* * *

They had put some distance between themselves and Totosai. This was done for no reason except for, as Yusuke elegantly put it: "It's too damn hot up there! Who lives on a volcano? Really?" They were currently camped near to a deep lake, which turned out to be very cold.

Kagome, meanwhile was contemplating punishing Yusuke, she had formulated her plan, but was still waiting for the right movement.

As it turned out, there were no fish in the lake, or any animals nearby, they would be going hungry for the night. Yusuke, surprisingly, didn't complain about this, in fact he hardly seemed to notice. He had not exploited the fact that Inuyasha now knew about him and Kagome, except for sleeping next to her. Well, tonight would be a good opportunity.

"Hey, Kagome, wanna take a walk?" which everyone knew meant "Kagome, wanna go make out in the woods?"

"Hmm...ok, you go on ahead, I'll be along in a couple minutes." Kagome said. Yusuke was confused about this, but went anyway. He got up and began walking off into the woods.The night air was warm, causing a fog to rise up off the cold lake. It was a full moon. Even Yusuke could see the mystique and romance. "_Tonight's gonna be a good night."_ He thought.

Kagome quickly changed into her smallest uniform (she had grown a little since she had started coming to this era, but brought all her uniforms just the same), and went after Yusuke. He didn't take long to notice that Kagome's clothes looked smaller. What was more, she was wearing a look upon her face that was completely different from any Yusuke had ever seen there before. He wasn't quite sure what to make of this.

"Umm...Kagome?" He said uncertainly. She didn't even say a reply. She pinned _him_against a tree, and began kissing him. Yusuke, recognizing this as the reversed roll, also noticed something else. Kagome was being fiercely dominant. He didn't really mind this much at all. But something was definitely off.

"Kagome...what-?" He began to ask, breaking the kiss.

"Can't I spend a little 'quality time' with my boyfriend?" She asked.

"Ok...by all means, continue." Yusuke said. Kagome had his shirt off (it was in such a tattered state she could have ripped it off, but she chose to pull it over his head). He was on the ground soon after that. Upon joining him, she kept her lips from his mouth and at his shoulder and neck, her hand caressing his exposed skin. Yusuke was new to this sensation, and Kagome would have never thought about it if her friends didn't give excruitiating details on their sex lives, Yusuke let out a small gasp of surprise and pleasure. Kagome moved her lips so they were inches from his, he closed his eyes, waiting for contact...

Kagome stood up. "There, I'm not mad at you anymore," she said as she began walking away. Yusuke began stammering incoherently.

"_Damn it! I never intended to go that far with it! What is wrong with me? Why didn't I stop? Was I just caught up in the heat of the moment?" _Kagome thought to herself. She had intended to get Yusuke's hopes up by removing his shirt, then leave it at that. "_Poor Yusuke..."_she thought, already furious with herself, she's apologize to him when he got back to camp.

Yusuke watched her walk away. Well, he'd heard cold showers worked for this kind of thing, maybe a dip in a cold lake would work just as well. He grabbed his shirt and set off in the opposite direction.

He arrived at the lake quickly. He decided to leave his clothes on, they needed washed anyway, they were covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. He jumped in and swam to the middle. It really was cold. Yusuke sat in the middle, treading water for about five minutes when he felt something. There was a demon nearby. He couldn't tell exactly where, but if it was in the water with him then it had a serious advantage.

A giant, blue demon popped out of the water, it looked like a cross between a fish and a dragon. It wasn't very powerful at all. The water that dripped off of it turned to ice before it rejoined the lake.

"S-s-so, you'r-re the r-reason its so damn c-cold in here." Yusuke said through chattering teeth.

The demon roared in response. Yusuke controlled his teeth long enough to threaten the demon, "News flash, I'm not in the fucking mood to deal with you right now, so piss off...or die. Either way, I win."

The Demon shot an ice-ball at Yusuke, but Yusuke had blasted straight through it, and to the demon with his Spirit Gun. What was left of the demon crashed into the water, Yusuke swam out of the lake quickly, not wanting to get the demon's blood on his clothes. He was really looking forward to sitting in front of the fire.

Kagome was still cursing herself when Yusuke turned up, dipping from head to foot. She felt worse now.

"There was an ice demon in the lake." He told them all before sitting down opposite Kagome. Even across the fire she could tell his lips were blue.

"When you say 'was'..." Miroku said.

"I mean that only part of it is there now."

Yusuke was shivering. The only member of the group that seemed to put two and two together was Miroku, he was wearing a smirk that said he knew what had happened. After a while Kagome walked over to sit next to Yusuke. He didn't move, but he didn't acknowledge her either, he was fairly mad (not to mention cold).

"Yusuke?" She whispered tentatively.

Yusuke hesitated before answering. "What?" He whispered back, a slight edge in his voice.

"I...uh...I might have gone too far with that..." She said.

"Ya' think?" Yusuke said, forgetting to whisper. Everyone looked at them.

"Yusuke, please keep your voice down." Kagome whispered.

"Hmph, fine." Yusuke whispered back as he crossed his arms. There wasn't really any point in whispering, the others seemed to have disappeared.

"I know you're mad," She said, she was keeping her voice down, she knew the others hadn't gone far.

"No, I'm not mad, what gave you that idea?" Yusuke said very sarcastically.

"Please Yusuke, I never wanted to go that far with it." Kagome pleaded.

"Then why did you?" Yusuke couldn't help keeping the curiousity out of his voice.

Kagome blushed deeply. She didn't really have an answer.

"You know...carried away..."

"Meanwhile, I get to take a swim." Yusuke completely missed what that had meant.

"Yusuke, I'm sorry," She said, "I'll make it up to you, somehow."

Yusuke's face changed, his look was one of great anticipation now.

"Not like that!" Kagome said, realizing what that could have meant, clapping a hand over her mouth.

Yusuke's face slid back into a look of annoyance and irritation. The others returned, they seemed to be developing a sixth sense for when exactly to leave and come back.

Kagome got ready to go to sleep. Yusuke got into his usual position with her.

"Does this mean your not mad anymore?" Kagome asked.

"Hell no, I'm pissed." Yusuke said.

It was at that moment that Kagome conceded that she would never be able to predict Yusuke's actions, or find any reasoning behind them.

"You know, I'm surprised," Yusuke whisped in her ear, "I never thought you would use sex as a weapon."

"_Maybe not a weapon,_" Kagome thought in the deepest recesses of her mind.

The next day Kagome had to wrestle out of Yusuke's arms without waking him up, she had woken before him. They were the last two asleep.

"Sango, can we talk?" Kagome addressed to her best friend.

"Sure..."

They got out of earshot of the group before beginning to talk.

"Sango last night...I wanted to make Yusuke pay for fighting with Inuyasha and..." Kagome gave a vague outline of what had happened.

"And now I feel like I was crossing the line, and I feel like a, well..." Kagome didn't have to finish

"Well, I'm not going to say it was the best plan in the world, I've known him a lot shorter then you, but even I can tell he takes things to extremes. As for feeling down on yourself; it sounds like you just got carried away by your emotions."

Kagome had never realized it, but Sango really was wise beyond her years.

"Thank you, Sango." She said.

When they returned, Yusuke was still asleep. He was blabbering about something, no one was really paying attention, they had all become so used to his sleep talking they could tune it out completely.

Yusuke didn't wake up until almost noon. No one had bothered waking him because they wouldn't be moving that day. They had scrounged up a little bit of food from nearby.

"How do you sleep so much?" Shippo asked.

"Easy, I'm lazy." Yusuke said. He was sitting away from Kagome. He wasn't sure how long he could hold out being annoyed with her. Sure, he was stubborn, but Kagome's lips looked so inviting...

"Yusuke? Something wrong?" Sango's voice interupted his musings.

"Nothing..." Yusuke said in a dazed voice. He tore his eyes away from Kagome. Had he looked around he would have seen Sango smiling.

The day drug on, Yusuke was missing wandering through the woods, at least that provided some kind of distraction. He was wondering if he could convince Inuyasha to fight him again.

"Inuyasha, wanna fight?" He asked.

"No!" Kagome answered for him.

"Not a serious fight, just something to do..."

"You two will get carried away."

"Meh," Yusuke said.

The day passed slowly. Yusuke was fidgeting. He had accepted the fact that today would be boring. He was thinking about practicing control of his Spirit Energy like he had with Genkai when Kagome walked to him. "Yusuke, can we take a walk?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm comfortable."

"Please? I just want to talk, that's it."

Yusuke let out a sigh. "Fine." He said, getting up.

When they were a sufficient distance away as not to be heard by the others Kagome turned to him. "Yusuke, I know your still mad at me, so I thought I should warn you of something that _might _come up." She said. Yusuke raised his eyebrows, to show he was listening.

"Well there's this demon that we occasionally run into...and he thinks that I'm 'his woman,' but it's completely one sided." She said the last bit quickly.

"Ok," Yusuke said in a flat voice, while he was thinking "_I'll kick his ass!"_

Kagome figured there would be a conflict, and as she had no means to keep Yusuke in line like she did with Inuyasha, she just hoped Koga wouldn't show up in the near future. Yusuke was thinking how she had just told him this, maybe he should tell her about his demon blood...

"Yusuke? You want to tell me something?" She could read his facial expression. Yusuke didn't answer.

"Yusuke?" She said again.

"No," He said. Kagome was sure he wasn't telling the truth, but decided not to press the issue, he was already mad at her.

"Is that all you wanted?" Yusuke said.

"Yes," Kagome said. She wished Yusuke would get over this, but at the same time, she couldn't blame him. She watched him walk away.

That night, after eating what little food they had, they spent the time until dark doing basically nothing. While the main group was grateful for this little break, Yusuke couldn't stand it. He went to sleep early, Kagome joined him soon after.

They were woken early the next morning by Inuyasha. They would be going to retrieve their swords from Totosai today. Yusuke sprung up. He was glad to be getting out of this place. The most exciting thing that had happened had been the same thing that had driven a slight wedge between Kagome and himself.

They had to walk for a few hours. When they arrived at Totosai's hut they found that he was not there (again). They decided to wait. They didn't have to wait very long. Totosai returned within an hour.

"Ah, you've returned." He said, he had both swords with him. "They should both be in perfect working order now, be more careful with them in the future."

"Thanks old man." Inuyasha said, taking his.

"Yeah, thanks." Yusuke said as he grabbed his. Instantly, he could tell something was different. The second his hand met with the hilt the sword, he felt some kind of power flowing from the sword to him. It felt strange, but friendly, somehow.

"What the hell did you do to my sword?" He asked, his voice was delighted, his face had lit up.

"What'd you mean?"

"It feels weird."

"I fixed it, like you asked." Totosai didn't mention his special upgrades, Yusuke would have to figure them out on his own.

Yusuke pulled out the sword. The blade shined, despite the darkness of the hut, and it was emanating a faint, pale blue, glow, the exact same color as his spirit energy.  
"This is freakin' awesome." He said as he noticed that the sword also weighed about half as much as it had before.

They left Totosai's, Yusuke was pumped with energy. He was itching to fight with the sword.

"Sango, sword fight?" He asked, he seemed very child-like at the moment, more so then usual.

"Maybe later." She said.

"Fine." He calmed down quite a bit after that.

When they finally found a place to camp, which was a rocky area, right next to a small cave; Inuyasha went out to search for food. They were completely out.

"Ok, now?" Yusuke asked Sango. She smiled.

"Fine, but try not to break my sword."

"No promises."

They went to a nearby clearing. Yusuke wasted no time, this wasn't a training session, it was a sparring session. Sango was still far superior then Yusuke in terms of skill, but Yusuke was able to swing the sword twice as fast now. They were locked in a stalemate. After several minutes they were forced to take a break.

"Kagome told me what happened..." Sango said tentatively, she knew these were dangerous waters. Yusuke gave no signs that he's heard Sango.

"She just wanted to make sure you didn't fight with Inuyasha again, she's worried the two of you will fight eachother again."

Yusuke was getting really irritated. Why wouldn't anyone just let him sulk for a couple days?

"I'm going back to camp." He said.

Sango sighed. She supposed that had gone better then she had expected, at least he hadn't rushed her.

It was still about Midday. Inuyasha had managed to find a large boar. They had just finished eating when it happened.

"There's a demon coming, fast."

"I sense two sacred jewel shards!"

"I smell wolf."

Yusuke, Kagome, and Inuyasha had spoken at the exact same time. All three were on their feet. They could see what looked like a tornado approaching fast. It stopped right in front of Kagome. She knew the thing she'd been hoping wouldn't happen had just happened.

"Hi Koga." She said nerviously as Koga took her hands in his own. "_I wonder if Yusuke will ignore this." _She thought doubtfully.

"Kagome, my love. Why are you still traveling with the mutt?" Koga said. He hadn't even noticed Yusuke.

He didn't wait for an answer, being more bold then ever, he kissed Kagome's cheek lightly.

"THAT'S IT! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Yusuke yelled. Koga barely had time to look to see the the source of the noise before he was knocked flat on his back and skidded backwards a few feet.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, getting up.

For an answer, Yusuke wrapped an arm around Kagome and kissed her, and, deciding to make it as grand a gesture as possible, dipped Kagome down as he did it.

"That answer your question?" Yusuke asked cockily.

"How dare you? She's mine! I claimed her!"

"I don't think she agrees."

"Bastard!" Koga yelled.

"Wanna fight about it?" Yusuke asked stepping away from Kagome. He was really hoping Koga _did_ want to fight about it.

Koga charged Yusuke as a reply, thinking he would catch Yusuke off-guard with his speed. Yusuke reacted just as fast, and sent a kick into Koga's face. Koga tried to dart around Yusuke, but Yusuke ran just as fast as him. Koga, realizing speed wouldn't cut it, delivered a roundhouse kick to Yusuke's stomach. "_Avoid his feet."_Yusuke thought as he felt the pain.

It seemed more like they were racing now. Yusuke and Koga were runnig at the exact same speed. Then Yusuke, deciding he'd had enough, pulled ahead. He hit Koga with a barage of punches, not really aiming. He seriously injured Koga's left arm.

"That's enough! STOP!" Kagome screamed at them. She'd let the battle continue this long for a few reasons; the first being that neither had been doing any real damage, the second being that Yusuke had been mad at her (she got the feeling he'd forgotten), and finally, she thought this might deter Koga from pursuing her as he had.

They both stopped instantly. Yusuke walked back to the main group, Koga followed him.

"Ok, so what you want, wolf?" Inuyasha asked. Yusuke could tell Inuyasha didn't like Koga either.

"I was here to tell KAGOME that I've heard some rumors...I dunno if Naraku's involved though."

"Well, what _do_ you know?"

"There's been a very powerful demon running amok, killing humans, entire villages at a time. No one's been able to stop it yet."

"Thanks Koga." Kagome said.

"Yeah thanks for telling us nothing useful." Inuyasha said.

"Sit." Kagome said calmly.

"Any idea where this demon was seen last?"

Koga raised his arm to point, but stopped. It was in extreme pain.

"Are you ok?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, fine." Koga answered in a voice that told them all he was lying.

"Koga, you arm's hurt!" said a voice. No one had noticed Koga's henchmen arrive.

"Come here," Kagome said reaching in her bag for what few medical supplies she had left. She fit Koga with a sling (Yusuke glaring at the wolf-demon the entire time).

"Kagome, my love, your gentle care will help me to a speedy recovery! Farewell!" Koga said. Yusuke got up to start pounding on Koga again, but he was already gone.

"Bye Kagome." The henchmen called, taking off after Koga.

"That guy's an ass." Yusuke said.

Kagome smiled, she didn't _completely _agree with Yusuke, and she had a feeling that Yusuke was speaking more from jealousy then anything else. Yusuke was sitting next to her, an arm around her.

"Does this mean your not mad anymore?" She asked quietly.

"Nothing like a borderline stalker to fix things." Yusuke said. He had forgotten his anger at her the second Koga had arrived.

Kagome laughed. She was relieved, and she was happy that Yusuke wasn't upset with her anymore. She kissed him on the cheek.

There was a problem with Koga's visit, however. She had no more medical supplies. She had brought less with her this time because she hadn't intended to stay as long (she would have been going back to see Yusuke), and with Yusuke's addition to the group, she was dangerously low on everything else as well, if not out. She had to go back and restock.

"Inuyasha, I need to go back." She said.

"What for?" He asked.

"I'm either out of everything, or almost out. We won't always be able to find food."

"Grr...fine! We'll head back to the village tomorrow. Stock up good this time, I don't want anymore diversions!"

A while later, Yusuke addressed Kagome.

"I don't think I should go with you when you go back." He said.

"Why not?"

"There's a good chance my teammates are looking for me, if I go back, they'll just bug me with where I've been, and then try and convince me to stay."

"I suppose that's a good reason, but don't you think they're worried about you?"

"Nah, it's not the first time I've disappeared for a while..."

"Ok."

"Could you do me one favor though? When you go back could you go by my place and grab me some clothes? I'm sick of wearing this. Don't worry about my mom, if she's even home there's a good chance she won't notice you."

Kagome didn't ask why Yusuke's mom wouldn't notice her. She knew that Yusuke really loved his mother, but she also knew that she had some problems, Yusuke had always avoided the subject of his family.

"Sure." She said. They spent the night in the shadow of the cave. Yusuke and Kagome had made sleeping together a habit.

It took them two days to make it back to Kaede's village. The first thing they did upon arriving was not head to the well, but go to see Kaede herself.

"Ah, I see ye found Kagome in one piece," was the first thing she said.

"Told ya' I'd be fine." Yusuke said triumphantly.

"I see that I was wrong to doubt ye." she said.

After a quick meal, Yusuke and Inuyasha escorted Kagome to the well. Yusuke told Kagome his address. Kagome committed it to memory before looking at the pair.

"Alright you two, there'll be hell to pay if I get back and you've fought again. Understood?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"I guess so."

Yusuke hugged Kagome and said to Inuyasha "You may not wanna watch this part," Inuyasha left as Yusuke kissed her goodbye.

"See you in a few hours." He whispered to her.

"Bye," she said. With that she jumped through the well.

She arrived on the other side and looked up, it sure was hard to carry this backpack out.

"_**Kurama! She's here!"**_

* * *

HAHAHA! Left you with a cliff hanger! I'll warn you guys now, I'm gonna have to stretch something next chapter, meaning I'm going to have Yusuke do something I doubt he can do, but oh well, you'll see what it is. By the way, forcing yourself to write through writer's block SUCKS! I don't think I'll do it again. It probably didn't help that I had more sexual content either, I don't like writing those, but I force myself to, just in case I feel like writing one in the future, gotta practice. ALSO: I HAVE OVER 1,000 HITS, and this was my longest chapter yet!

I'm thinking about having Yusuke name his sword, if you have any suggestions for a name then tell me in a review. If you don't think I should, then tell me in a review. If you have no opinion, then please just review, I love your feedback and appreciate it greatly.

_**Raine:**_You had it right, obviously, Koga was here, not sure if he'll pop up again...I'm not sure how much longer this fic will be. Thanks for the review.

_**Time On My Hands:**_ I'm glad you liked the fight. The passing out thing was actually completely made up on the spot. I hadn't planned that at all. As you saw, his sword got an upgrade. Thanks for the review.

_**Hissy Cow:**_ Yeah, the fight turned out better then I thought it would, but a fight that epic in proportions can only be done completely right by a master. Thanks for the review.

_**Jessica & Trinity:**_You both adressed the same issue, so it really wouldn't make sense to do two different responses. The reason they can't sense Yusuke's demon energy is because: he's not using it. The only reason I made Totosai and Myoga able to tell is because I think there's alot more to Totosai then he lets on, and Myoga, well, I have no reasoning for that, he's been around a long time, so he knows alot more then Inuyasha or Kagome would. As for Hiei not being sensed; I never mentioned how close or far he was, and he was hiding his energy, also; both Yusuke and Kagome were distracted, and Kagome wouldn't be on alert for demons in the present. Thanks for the reviews.

_**Dragonchardra:**_Well, I disagree with you about Inuyasha being a bastard, but yes, he's paying for his mistreatment of Kagome now. As for a Demon Yusuke/Inuyasha fight: I can't say anything at all regarding Demon Yusuke, I want it to be a surprise, when, how, and if, Yusuke chooses to reveal it.

_NEXT CHAPTER:_The Teacher's Brother and Naraku's appearance!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	10. The Teacher's Brother and Naraku's appea

Really not much to say, I think the beginning of this chapter is going to be tricky to write. Enjoy! (and please review)

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"_**Kurama! She's here!"**_

"_**Yusuke's girlfriend?"**_

_**"Of course, she's in human world, I can feel her energy."**_

_**"Do you know where?"**_

_**"No, my Jagan is being blocked, somehow."**_

_**"Very well, I'll meet with you, we'll see if we can find her. I should be able to determine if she has had recent contact with Yusuke. We must not engage her unless necessary."**_

Kagome set out of her house, no one was home at the time, so there would be no visiting. She set out for the mall first. Normally, this wouldn't have been a stop for her, but she had a few things she thought she should pick up in addition to her usual supplies (a new sleeping bag among them, she hadn't been able to get the blood out of her old one). The instant she stepped outside of the shrine she had the feeling she was being watched.

Back in the fuedal era, Yusuke was training with Sango again. Next to Kagome, he favored her the most in the Fuedal era. He was costantly improving his sword fighting, Sango almost felt a sense of pride. In the middle of a skirmish, Yusuke stopped.

"Something wrong?"

"Sango...I was wondering, why do _you_want to kill Naraku? Kagome only told me about Inuyasha..."

Sango's face immediately fell.

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" She said.

Yusuke looked at her, "Only if you want to tell me." Yusuke had a feeling this was a painful subject. He could tell Sango was wary of telling him. Sango herself was considering telling him no, but he had joined them, and pledged to destroy Naraku alongside them, he deserved the truth.

"I come from a village of Demon-Slayers, one night, almost a year ago, the top slayers in my village were commissioned to destroy a demon that had been attacking a castle." Sango began, Yusuke was paying full attention (a high honor, from him). "It was a trap, Naraku had sent demons to the village to destroy it, while all at the castle were slain. He was after the jewel shards we had collected." Sango hesitated. "I was the only survivor."

"I'm sor-"

"Don't apologize, it was natural for you to be curious. Now, let's continue."

In the present, Kagome kept looking over her shoulder, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, even though she knew there was no one around. Little did she know, that the person watching her was across town.

"Hn. About time you showed up." Hiei said stiffly. Kurama had taken much longer then he had expected.

"I was detained shortly by my human mother."

"Whatever, I managed to locate her."

"Where is she?"

"I believe humans call it the 'mall'."

"Good, it will be easy to get near her."

Kagome walked into the mall, she'd be able to get all the extra supplies she needed. She was just about to enter a store with camping supplies when some one called out her name. Kagome looked around to see her friends walking toward her. Although their presence would make shopping more difficult, she was grateful for them, she felt safer walking with other people.

"So, are you still with Uramseshi?" Yumi asked her.

"Yeah."

"You really like tough guys, don't you?"

"You know, Yusuke's really sweet." Kagome felt like they'd had this conversation before.

"Has your ex been sniffing around?"

"Yeah...him and Yusuke ended up in a fight." Kagome said. Eventually the conversation steered into different waters.

"So have you two...you know, yet?" Eri asked.

Kagome turned extremely red. "NO!" She said.

"Oh, come on, you can tell us."

"We really haven't..." Kagome realized her friends had changed a little since she had started going to the Feudal era.

Kagome was lost in thought, when she collided with something.

"My apologies." said a red haired teen as he held out his hand to help her up.

Kagome took the hand, instantly sensing something "_He's a demon."_ She thought.

"_**FOX! She knows, get the information you need and leave."**_

_**"I already know what I need to know. We shall follow her at a distance and see if she leads us to Yusuke."**_

"No problem." Kagome said. This demon didn't seem to mean her any harm.

The second Kurama was out of what they suspected was earshot, Kagome's friends started blabbering about how gorgeous that boy had been.

"Ok, well, I need to get some things." Kagome said, her friends didn't really get the hint. She entered the outdoor store with them.

"Kagome? Why are you getting a hiking backpack...?" Yumi asked.

"Umm...uh...Yusuke...likes hiking..." Kagome said, knowing that it was one of Yusuke's least favorite things.

"And?"

"It's a Birthday present," Kagome invented quickly, Yusuke's Birthday wasn't for a month and a half. She was really only getting it so he could help carry stuff (like his clothes).

"Listen, it was nice seeing you guys, but I have to go to the pharmacy."

Kagome went to the pharmacy and picked up al the medical supplies she needed, as well as something else (A/N: no, I'm never telling you what, even if you guess it). She then set out for Yusuke's apartment, the whole time feeling like she was being watched. "_I'm just being paranoid."_ She told herself.

"So, what did you find?"

"She has definetly been close to Yusuke recently...very close." Kurama had smelled Yusuke on her clothes, the scent was fairly fresh.

They followed her at a distance, they watched her enter Yusuke's apartment.

"_Oh my God! This is terrible!"_Was Kagome's first thought upon entering. There were countless bottles and cans strewn about the floor. Kagoem had to wonder through them all before she discovered Yusuke's room, while it was still a mess, it was at least clear of alcholic containers. Kagome piled all the clothes she could find into her bag, along with a small tub of hairgel and walked out. She would return home now.

Hiei and Kurama follwed her to the shrine. "This is where she came back, I could see her right outside." Hiei said.

"Very well, I shall question her, all the evidence point to her being involved." Kurama said. He climbed the stairs. Kagome was at the well house already, she had droppen all the supplies to the bottom already and was about to jump in herself when she heard a voice.

"Hello, can I have a moment of your time?" Kurama asked.

Kagome turned around and saw the demon she had 'run into' earlier.

"What do you want, demon?" she asked, she wasn't concerned with being rude, she figured this was the one that had been watching her.

"Oh, so you know about demons? This makes things much more straightforward." Kurama said with a peaceful smile (even though Hiei had already told him this).

"I'm looking for a friend of mine, judging by your actions today, you know where he is."

"If you mean Yusuke..." Kagome said, she was ready to jump into the well at a moments notice.

"Hn. Bring the detective to us and I might choose not to torture you." Hiei said. Kagome hadn't even noticed him arrive, but that threat was all she needed, she jumped into the well.

"Damn!" Hiei cursed, her energy had vanished, he jumped after her, but all he found was the bottom of a dry well. "She went through here, somehow." Hiei said. Kurama jumped down too, nothing happened.

"This must be a portal of some kind, it seems that we cannot pass through. Hiei, we have to report this."

Kagome was falling back to the fuedal era, she wondered if they were Yusuke's team mates, she had trouble believing Yusuke would work with some one as hostile as the short, black-haired one. She started the climb out, Yusuke was waiting for her.

"Hey, I was beginning to wonder-Kagome? Somethin' wrong?"

"I...think your team really wants to find you..." She looked a little shaken.

"What happened?" Yusuke asked, he looked ready to jump through the well and kick some asses.

Kagome explained what happened, Yusuke calmed down, things could have gone worse.

"At least you're ok, Hiei can be a piece of work sometimes, but I doubt he would have done anything to hurt you..."

"He was the short one?"

"Yeah."

"I'm just shocked he's on your team."

"Don't knock 'em; once you get his respect then you've got it for life, and he's damn strong."

"And the red haired one?"

"Loud-mouthed idiot, or quiet genius?"

"Quiet."

"Kurama, he's the fox demon I told you guys about."

"Ok, it was kind of a tense moment."

"By the way, what's with the second backpack?"

"That's for you, I can't carry everything anymore."

"So what am I? Your pack mule?" Yusuke asked.

"Pretty much."

"Then turn around, your 'pack mule' is about to change...or you can keep watching, I don't really care if you see me naked."

Kagome chose to turn around. Yusuke quickly changed into the outfit he had worn during the Dark Tournament.

"You can turn around now." Yusuke said. He was pulling on a the shoes he had worn as well.

"There's this too..." Kagome said, handing over the hair gel.

"Thanks!" Yusuke said happily. Kagome watched as he gelled his hair up for the first time in days.

"You know, alot of people would consider your hair obsession girly."

"Ahhh, shut up."

They walked back to the village, hand in hand. They would be staying there again that night, which Yusuke preferred; he still wasn't used to sleeping in the open.

"So other then being stalked by my team mates, how were things in the present?"

"Alright; my family wasn't home though, I kinda wanted to say hi, but I got to see my friends at least." Kagome knew Yusuke didn't like her friends, and she couldn't blame him, they had tried to turn her against him before they had even gone out.

Yusuke kissed her on the cheek, he was more in favor of talking at the moment; they had been more physical then emotional lately. Him and Kagome remained in deep conversation well after the others had fallen asleep, they talked about anything, the topics were joyful, full of sorrow, playful, everthing, Yusuke didn't mention his demon blood, he came close, but decided he would allow Kagome the peace of mind that he was human a while longer.

It was as Yusuke began to drop off that he confronted his feelings once again, and as last time, his final thought before falling asleep was "_Am I in love?" _Little did he know that Kagome was asking herself the exact same thing.

The next day arrived (later that morning for Yusuke and Kagome). They set out, not stopping until around noon. Yusuke and Kagome had been dragging behind all day, they were tired. They nearly fell asleep together after a quick lunch, before being reawoken by Shippo. He said Inuyasha was talking about leaving them behind (an empty threat). They spent the entire day holding hands, they were closer then ever now.

The group managed to find a hut to sleep in. They were moving in the direction Koga had told them, having no other leads. Yusuke fell asleep just after dinner, as did Kagome. Niether of them knowing that in a few hours they would be awake again.

"EVERYBODY UP! DEMONS!" Inuyasha's voice rang out. Yusuke woke up instantly, as well as everyone else. They ran outside. Even from a distance Yusuke could tell: there were thousands of them. He felt their energy, he could tell that none were that strong, but in those numbers, they were in for a wild night. Yusuke was trying to feel out where the strongest were when he discovered something else, something that Inuyasha's nose had missed, a human's energy was mixed in with all the demons, but it was tainted, as if some other force was in control of it...

"Kagome, get in the hut!" Yusuke yelled, he knew she had power he had not yet seen, but he would be damned if she got hurt on his watch.

"I can handle myself just fine!"

"I know, just-PLEASE!" Yusuke yelled as the first wave arrived. Kagome obeyed this time, not because the demons had frightened her, but because she had heard something in Yusuke's voice she had never heard there before: fear.

Kirara had transformed. Had this not been such a dire situation, Yusuke would have stared in amazement as the once tiny cat joined the battle. Yusuke used a shot from his Spirit Gun which cut down about one hundred demons. Inuyasha followed suite with the Wind Scar.

The battle raged on. The demons were beginning to thin. Yusuke's sixth sense however, told him something bad was about to happen, and he didn't have to wait long. Sango spotted something amist the hordes of demons. Yusuke saw her run into the heart of them with a tearful cry of "KOHAKU!" less then a second later Miroku's voice was heard. "Oh no! SANGO!" the terror in his voice evident as he charged off after her. Yusuke heard him cry out something that sounded like "Wind Tunnel!" soon after and saw Demons disappear by the hundreds, some of the insect ones seeming to intentionally fly at Miroku's hand. Kagome was at Yusuke's side.

"What's going on?" He asked her urgently.

"Kohaku is Sango's brother." She said, she looked terrified. Inuyasha was distracting the demons that were left (a few hundred).

"She said she was the only survivor..." Yusuke couldn't take this in, it didn't make any sense.

"Naraku took control of him and forced him to kill their entire family, he kept Kohaku alive to torture Sango-"

"INUYASHA! PROTECT KAGOME!" Yusuke yelled. Miroku had fallen unconcious. Inuyasha jumped to her side, and sent another Wind Scar at the demons, who now seemed to take Inuyasha as their prime target.

Yusuke rushed to Sango's side. He wanted to help her, she had become something like an older sister to him. He just hoped he could...he had only seen the technique once, and Genkai had never gone into great detail how to do it.

Sango was dueling Kohauku, tears in her eyes. She didn't even notice Yusuke arrive, not until he caugfht the sythe that was about to impale her.

"Why did you intervene?" she asked him. He didn't answer her.

"I'm real sorry about this, kid. I really hope you're still in there somewhere..." Yusuke said as he formed his hands into what could have been a praying gesture. Spirit Energy erupted fom his fingertips and shot several feet into the air. He bagan chanting everything he remembered from the fight with Dr. Ichigaki. Sango was pushed back, powerless to help either side.

Yusuke finished the chant, he charged at Kohaku, hitting him where his heart was. He felt Kohaku's life energy disappear. He was completely drained.

It was a minute before Sango found her voice. Kohaku wasn't moving.

"What did you do?" She asked shakily. She couldn't tell if Kohaku was dead.

"I tried to free him..." Yusuke said as the others arrived, they began to bring Miroku around.

"You tried?" Sango said, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what that meant.

"I did something that should have set him free if his soul was still pure...I'm not sure it worked." Yusuke sounded empty, there was a lifeless look in his eyes, that showed his uncertainty.

Miroku was up.

Sango was about to respond, but never got the chance, Yusuke felt an immense demon energy. Naraku had descened upon them, standing at the opposite end of the field.

"So, boy, you killed my puppet?" Naraku said. He was far away, and hadn't yelled, but they heard every word clearly.

Yusuke's fighting spirit had leapt back into him. along with burning rage. "So you're the bastard that caused all this!" He yelled. He charged Naraku, forgetting he had no more Spirit Energy. He let out a battle roar, his fist raised, but the fist never connected, Naraku caught Yusuke around the wrist with one of his tentacles, another one wrapping itself around Yusuke's waste.

"You charge me with no power left? How _admirable_. You should have realized that you would have failed to free the demon slayer boy. No human can overpower my will." Naraku said. No one had eyes for anything but Yusuke and Naraku, the two of them only for eachother.

"You son of a bitch! I'll dance on your grave when I kill you."

"Oh?" Naraku said, bringing Yusuke's face close to his own so they could look eachother in the eyes, "Do you really believe you will succeed? I have you now, in my grasp, ready to break you in two." He sqeezed harder.

As an answer, Yusuke spit right in the center of Naraku's face. Naraku began to laugh maniacly.

"Naraku!" Kagome's voice could be heard, he stopped laughing, she had an arrow drawn, "Let him GO!" She yelled as she released the arrow. Yusuke saw the glowing arrow as it tore almost a quarter of Naraku's body away. Yusuke fell to the ground.

Naraku disappeared in a swirl of purple miasma, Yusuke inhaling large amounts of it. They heard Naraku's voice, coming from al around.

"I will let you live for some time yet. Take solace in the fact that as the Demon Slayer's brother is dead, I no longer control him. Farewell."

Kagome rushed to Yusuke's side, as did Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango seemed to be looking for something. Yusuke couldn't walk, the miasma had made his arms and legs go numb. Kagome and Inuyasha each threw one of Yusuke's arms over their shoulders and drug him back to Miroku and Sango.

"Kohaku's body is gone." Miroku said, he was still very weak from the poison of the insects, but was in no immediate danger.

"But Naraku just said he couldn't control him anymore..." Inuyasha said.

Something clicked, everyone whose head wasn't spinning understood what that must mean. Yusuke had succeeded.

Sango began to cry, a smile on her face.

"He's free." She said. Sure, he would have to deal with the guilt of what he had done while Naraku had him under his control, and she couldn't see him until Naraku was defeated, but at least he wasn't a puppet anymore.

"Thasgood." Yusuke slurred. He was carried back to the hut, Naraku would not attack again that night. Sango thanking him more times then anyone could count. He was a hero that night, but he didn't think he deserved the praise.

"I could just have easily killed him, I've never even tried that before, the fact that he's alive is a miracle." Yusuke said, and he was right, if it hadn't been for the jewel shard in his back, Kohaku would be lying dead, Yusuke had just gotten lucky and succeded in cleansing Naraku from him.

"Kagome," he whispered after convincing the others to leave him alone, "you saved my ass tonight, thank you."

"We can call it even." She said, Yusuke had saved her more then a few times already.

* * *

I'm not sure I like how that chapter turned out...oh well, too late now. I really don't think that Yusuke would be able to do that...anyway, I have an announcement: There is a slight possibility that the next chapter will be a little delayed. For starters, I'm sick right now and feel like sleeping alot, and the computer I use for this is starting to crap out, so I may have to wait until my new computer gets here (I ordered it yesterday, should be here in a week or two), depends on how long this one last. Please review!

Time for review responses!

**Trinity of Kitsune Kunoichi:** As you saw, he wasn't at her shrine, I realized people might think that _after_ I posted it, and I wasn't going to go back and add another couple lines of dialogue to clarify. Thanks for the review!

**Raine:** You like saying that, don't you? Thanks for the review!

**Jessica:**As always, I'm not going to answer questions about Yusuke's demon blood, but I will gaurantee that it's gonna come up. As for the rest of the team: one of the major reasons I'm refusing to bring them in is because I have enough trouble keeping the characters I have there now in each chapter, after I get soem more practice I may do an alternate version of this fic with them in it. Thanks for the review!

**Slowfatbunny:** Wow, I was about to post this chapter when you reviewed, good thing I decided to check, I'd have felt bad if I missed you. Sorry if I got your name wrong. Thanks for the review!

_NEXT CHAPTER:_ Prelude to a Rematch!

As always: please review!


	11. Prelude to a Rematch

Ugh...I'm putting way more fluff then I'd like to in this chapter, but I need it to progress the story. Oh, and one more thing, why the hell are there random shaks in the wilderness? They seem to find them alot in the show. Enjoy and please review!

**WARNING:**Severe Yusuke Out of Character-ness a few places in this chapter, another problem at the expense of moving the romance...and a few other things, forward

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Yusuke awoke the next morning with a splitting headache. Apparently the miasma had left his body with something similar to a hangover. Yusuke had been left to sleep for a few reasons. The first being that, as he had freed Kohaku, the others thought he should be allowed to do whatever he wanted (even Inuyasha, though he wouldn't have admitted it), the second being that they would be staying there that day; Miroku was not doing well.

He had used up what little strength he had helping Sango look for Kohaku's body, he had had to sit and rest as soon as he reached the hut, no one noticed at the time, they had all been too busy praising Yusuke. Sango was tending to him now, his act of heroism had not gone unnoticed.

Yusuke only stayed inside a few minutes after waking, sure, his head was killing him, and he wanted nothing more then to just lay around and be lazy all day, but he thought he should give the two some privacy.

"Yusuke, you're up!" Kagome said, seeing him walking towards her.

"Yeah..." He said glancing back.

Yusuke ate little, his stomach was bugging him.

"Inuyasha," Yusuke said, the half-demon looked up, "Thank you for protecting Kagome for me last night." Kagome marveled at this, she was even more surprised when Inuyasha gave a quick nod to acknowledge this, instead of saying something to get Yusuke fired up.

"Kagome, walk with me." Yusuke said. Kagome got up and walked away with Yusuke.

They walked in silence until they found a nice grassy hillside.

"Something you want to talk about?" Kagome asked.

"Nah, not really." Yusuke said, laying down in the grass, putting his head behind his hands and closing his eyes.

"So you want me out here so you can take a nap?"

"No, I'm just relaxing."

It was a while before either spoke again. Kagome was sitting by Yusuke, she was pretty sure he _was_ asleep, until he spoke.

"I'm sorry I've been doubting your power, you can really kick ass when you want to." He said without opening his eyes.

"Well, I can only do that with arrows."

"Not just arrows, trust me, you have a really strong punch."

Kagome laughed.

"So why _are_ we out here?"

"A few reasons. I wanted to lay down until I got rid of this headache, I thought I should give Miroku and Sango some privacy, and," Yusuke opened his eyes, "I wanted to be alone with you."

Kagome looked into his eyes, they were much more peaceful then usual.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Not much."

"You know, I _do _have aspirin in my bag."

"Why didn't you say something??"

"You didn't ask." Kagome said. Yusuke grumbled, there was no defying that logic.

Kagome rummaged around in her bag and pulled out the bottle. Yusuke took it gratefully.

Kagome saw Yusuke looking at her, well, he seemed to be more _studying_ her. She wondered what he was thinking.

_"God! She's amazing. Nice, but a she has a backbone. Always prepared. Caring. One of the finest bodies I've ever seen, with a cute face to match. Just so...perfect. God I love her...Wait! Did I just think what I think I thought?" _Is what she would have heard if she had been hearing his thoughts. She didn't know Yusuke had just scared the living crap out of himself.

"Umm...Yusuke?" She said a minute or two after Yusuke had thought this (he was still staring at her and he hadn't spoken). Yusuke kissed her. Neither of them knew how long the kiss lasted, all they knew was that there was more emotion in this kiss then in any they had had before.

"Ya know, if we do that all day, one of us is going to end up with a really bad tongue cramp." Kagome said after the kiss broke.

"It'd be worth it." Yusuke said with a grin on his face, he had chosen not to act on this new revelation, not yet anyway, the concept still frightened him.

"I meant me," Kagome said, half laughing.

The day continued with them talking again, somehow, neither ever ran out of anything to say. Kagome was nestled between Yusuke's legs, head against his chest, his arms surrounding her. They didn't realize how long they'd been there until the sun began to set. They stopped talking to watch.

Yusuke didn't really care for the sun setting, but he could tell Kagome did, so he kept quiet, letting her soak in the sight that she didn't usually see (surprisingly).

"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" She said.

"Yeah..." Yusuke said not taking his eyes off Kagome.

Kagome heaved a sigh, "We should get back, we've been gone a few hours." Kagome said. Yusuke realized he must have slept until about noon.

They arrived back at camp, Inuyasha gave the air one sniff and asked, "Where the hell have you two been?"

"You know, around." It was Yusuke that answered. He was acting oddly, it wasn't just his eyes that seemed more at peace; for a short time at least, his whole demeanor had changed.

"Are you two ok?" Kagome asked Sango and Miroku, who were sitting around the place where the fire would be.

"Yes, thanks to the administrations of Lady Sango." Miroku said. Sango gave a small smile, though her eyes weer bloodshot, evidence she had been crying recently (She had been cursing herself for her actions putting Miroku in danger).

"Right, well, can you move?" Inuyasha queried.

"I will be at my fullest by tomorrow morning."

"Good, I didn't want to stay here any longer then we had to."

"Damn, I was hoping we could crash here a few more nights, not that the spot's great or anything, I just like sleeping inside." Yusuke said. Inuyasha bit back the retort he wanted to say ("Well, by all means, if you're comfortable, then why don't we stay here all year and call off the search for Naraku? Pain in the ass,").

The night came and went, Inuyasha waking everyone up early.

"Doesn't he _ever _sleep?" Yusuke asked Kagome groggily.

"Of course he does. Him, Miroku, and Sango trade off during the night. I thought you would have figured that out."

"You know I'm not that smart."

"Ok, well, I'm changing before we leave." Yusuke warned her, he would wear a set of clothes for a couple days, he didn't really have that much so he'd decided to 'ration' what he had.

She could have left the hut, but decided to just turn around. Yusuke threw on a pair of light jeans, and a white T-shirt.

They traveled on for a couple days, nothing really interesting happening (unless you counted Yusuke nearly breaking Miroku's hand for being too close to Kagome's butt). Yusuke was acting like his normal self again, he was back to calling Inuyasha generic dog names, back to being bored with the proceedings, and back to letting everyone know he was bored.

Around midday, Inuyasha suddenly stopped. His nose was sniffing the air, a worried expression on his face. Everyone was confused, Yusuke hadn't sensed anything, yet. There must have been alot of whatever this smell was.

"I smell human blood."

They rushed to the scene. Yusuke picking up a very powerful demon's energy along the way. He was not prepared for the sight that met his eyes. There were corpses everywhere, the faces that he could see (and that were left in a distinguishable state) showed pure terror,but that wasn't the worst of it. The ground was stained with blood, there didn't seem to be a single body in one piece. There was the demon, looking pleased with itself, standing in the center, a screaming woman in one hand.

"Hey, put her down!" Inuyasha yelled.

The demon glanced at Inuyasha and threw the woman aside. She began to run as fast and far away as she could.

The demon unveiled it's full height. It was about twenty feet tall, it had green skin and a mane of a lighter shade, enormous claws on each hand, a sharp row of fangs in its large mouth.

"Hello there! Do you wish to be eaten, half-blood? Or is it one of your companions that would like to go first? Please, hurry and decide, I do have a meal waiting, after all."

"Punkass, you want this one?" Inuyasha asked, meaning Yusuke.

No response.

"Hey, I asked you if you wanted this one."

_Thud._

"Kid?" Inuyasha asked, there was something wrong.

Yusuke was sitting on the ground, eyes wide and pupils dilated. He couldn't deal with this, he had _never_ seen _humans_ in this state, he hadn't even really seen demons in this state, not in these numbers. He was in shock.

"Yusuke!" Kagome shrieked.

"Bring him around. I'll handle this bastard." Inuyasha said, stepping forward.

"I was hoping for one of the females, they look delicious, and I'm afraid I may be too full after devouring you to fit another one down. It pains me to waste such good food."

"Yeah yeah, ya' son of a bitch, I've heard it all before from a bunch of now dead idiots who overestimated themselves like you."

The demon chuckled. "This will be enjoyable."

"For me!" Inuyasha said, lunging forward and drawing Tetsusaiga. He could have used the Windscar, but he didn't want to desecrate these bodies more then they had been.

The demon carelessly stepped aside, he was very fast for his size. Inuyasha was not deterred though, he made s stabbing motion at the demon, which was again dodged.

"Do you mind if I attack? Dodging can be so dull." The demon said, before making a slash at Inuyasha. Inuyasha managed to avoid the brunt of the attack.

"Hmm...it seems some of my meal was blown away with that last bit...I _do _need to learn to be a bit more precise." The demon said, and it was right, many of the corpses had been completely obliterated by that attack. Yusuke's pupil's shrank slightly.

Inuyasha was wasting no time. He immediately retaliated with a sweeping strike. The demon caught the blade in one of his clawed hands. Inuyasha ripped it out of the demon's grasp, leaving a cut in it's hand.

"Ahh...now that is much better. I rather detest unfair opposition. I am grateful for the fact that these humans never try to fight back, they prefer to run and hide."

"WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY??" Inuyasha yelled at the demon. He swung at the demon again, who dodged.

"I suppose I do tend to ramble, I will attemt to focus on our fight, and not speak at such length. However, I will make no promises."

The fight raged on, the demon seemed to be keeping its word, and was not talking as much. Inuyasha had been injured, while the demon was still only suffering from the cut on it's hand.

"Damn you!" He said, making a slash identical to the one that had injured the demon before.

"You have quite a mouth on you, you know. Personally, I prefer not to use such foul expletives." The demon said, grasping the blade firmly and pulling it out of Inuyasha's hands. He tossed it aside. He instantly followed up with an upward slash from his other claw. Inuyasha landed on his feet, but suddenly seemed like he didn't want to move.

Yusuke's body, which had already been nearing forcing him to snap out of his current state, sensed that something was wrong. Inuyasha was sitting now, but he didn't seem to be resting. A sudden burst in Inuyasha's demon energy was the push Yusuke needed.

The others noticed Inuyasha's change as well, but they knew what was happening. They were terrified.

"What's going on?" Yusuke asked.

"Inuyasha has transformed. His demon blood is taking over. We need to stop him!"

"How?"

"Knock him out, and restore Tetsusaiga to him. He reverts when it is at his side."

This would all have to wait until after Inuyasha's current fight, however. Interfering now would be even more dangerous.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, apparently that sword keeps your demon blood locked away, which you seem to have wanted. I would not have deprived you of such a prised possession on purpose."

Inuyasha didn't even notice the demon speaking. Markings on his face, his eyes glowing red, Inuyasha lunged at the demon; claws bared.

The demon's leg parted company with its owner. Inuyasha was behind the demon that was now standing one-legged. He lunged at the spine. The demon fell, and uttered it's last words, "Ah yes! A death on the battlefield. It was truly an honor to do battle with you, half-blood. Thank you very much for giving me such a glorious defeat." Inuyasha began tearing the demon to pieces.

"Are you ready?" Miroku asked them all. Kagome and Sango nodded.

"Hold off, I'll do it." Yusuke said, stepping in front of them all.

"Yusuke..." Kagome began.

"No offense, but I'm the strongest one, you guy couldn't manage to take him down."

"But..."

"No buts. Now Kagome, I don't want you sitting him. It'll throw off my fighting and make you a target." Yusuke hesitated, Inuyasha was almost done ripping the demon to shreds.

"Kagome, if it looks like I'll lose; run, fast as you can, and don't look back. You two, look after her, you look after her too, Shippo."

They realized what Yusuke was doing: he was passing on his last wishes, just in case he didn't make it. They didn't understand; they were terrified, but Yusuke was calm; it was unlike how they'd seen him before every other fight, he wasn't jumping up and down in excitement, or yelling his rage at the enemy.

Inuyasha had finished tearing up the demon, making absolutely sure it was really dead, he spotted this new challenger, a human; a meal.

The two charged at each other. Claw and fist raised. Both connected, Yusuke hitting Inuyasha in the jaw, Inuyasha ripping apart Yusuke's shirt (and some of the skin underneath). There was no question of who had come off worse.

It continued. Yusuke was getting torn up by Inuyasha's claws, but Inuyasha seemed completely unaffected. Yusuke charged up his Spirit Gun. He fired the shot at Inuyasha. It was a direct hit, and while normally that shot would have incapacitated Inuyasha, right now it seemed to just fuel the rage.

Inuyasha landed another hit, he scraped downward across Yusuke's chest. Yusuke fell back a few feet, onto his front. It had been a direct hit. Miroku had started trying to drag Kagome away after the hit before that one. She elbowed him as hard as she could causing him to release her, and began to run back to where the two fighters were, tears streaming. She would not leave Yusuke. It wasn't over yet, Yusuke had struggled to his feet.

And as Yusuke sensed Kagome coming near he realized she wouldn't leave, no matter how plain it was he was going to lose. He hadn't wanted to do this...he didn't even know if he could maintain control of himself while he was doing it...but he had to make a decision.

As he made his decision, he whispered one word, "Kagome."

Inuyasha had stopped his charge, his primal instincts had warned him of danger. Kagome could feel demon energy coming from somewhere, completely trumping Inuyasha's own. She watched as Yusuke's hair began to grow and markings appeared all over his body. She watched as Yusuke was enveloped in a bright red glow.

"_What?? He's a DEMON??"_

* * *

HA! LEFT YOU THERE! A little short, I know. Don't worry, I'll have the next chapter out within a week, barring some disaster. By the way, the green demon is entirely mine, and has been temporarily dubbed "Sir Slaughter." I had so much fun writing him. He may appear in a future fic (not exactly the exact same demon, as he's dead now, you get what I mean).

Not really many notes, Sorry again for Yusuke being off in this chapter. Please Review.

Review Responses

**Animemoonlightgoddess:** Thanks...You have no idea how many times I had to rework that. I'm glad the final product came out well. Thanks for the review!

**Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi: **Not sure what Sugoi means...but thanks for your continued support of this fic. Thanks for the review!

**Jessica: **Well, you just saw what happened next, and now Demon Yusuke is in the mix...Thanks for the review!

**Kage Fuschichou: **Wow, thank you very much. I'm very surprised at how positive my fic is being reviewed. I thought it would suck. Thanks for the review!

**Raine: **Yes, I have made him fairly squishy...but I think it makes sense for Yusuke to have changed. I have a list of justifications that I'm feeling to lazy to type at the moment, but you didn't ask for those anyway. Thanks for the review!

_NEXT CHAPTER:_Might of the Mazoku

Alot goin' down next chapter!


	12. Might of the Mazoku

Boo, no one commented on my original demon, I thought it was funny, I had this ferocious looking demon in my head, that enjoys dismembering humans before eating them, and I gave him a personality at the other end of the spectrum (he had a British accent in my head...). Oh well. Reviewer Responses at the top again.

**Raine:** Glad you liked it, here's some more. Thanks for the review!

**Jessica:**I knew I couldn't hold out much longer, I've been dropping hints forever, I really wanted to get Yusuke into his demon form, I think it fits the mood of the story. Thanks for the review!

**Hissy Cow:** Yes, I am a little evil for that, aren't I? I did it mostly because both these shows leave you with a cliffhanger at the end of an episode. Though that doesn't mean I don't like the reactions I get. Thanks for the review!

**Trinity:**Well, I thought about that, but Yusuke knows that his demon ancestor was alive 1000 years ago, and this is about 500 years ago, before the division of worlds, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to think that Raizen would be running around Feudal Japan...I considered sticking him in somewhere, but not have anyone know what the hell was going on. As for the darkening of Yusuke's skin in demon form: that was a bit inconsistent...look when he finishes killing Sensui, his skin is the same as always...I think it was just an artistic decision, the darker side of YusukeDarker skin (hehe, I made a face). I dunno, just speculation. Thanks for the review!

**Jimmy:**Thanks, I intend to continue performing at the level I have been, and have hopefully been improving my writing style throughout this fic. Thanks for the review!

**jessica:**Two Jessicas? Ah well, I only gotta remember which ones which once a chapter. This is pretty much my favorite crossover pairing (though I'm toying with the idea of Yusuke/Sango for another fic, gonna be tricky). As you can see, I have this chapter in the works. Thanks for the review!

* * *

_"What?? He's a DEMON??"_Kagome thought, stunned. She had been around Yusuke all this time, and never felt a trace of Demon in him. How was this possible?

Yusuke's transformation seemed complete. He lunged at Inuyasha with incredible speed and had him pinned almost instantly, there was no question who the stronger was.

"DAMNIT INUYASHA! WAKE THE HELL UP! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE SOMEWHERE!" Yusuke yelled, pummeling Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha managed to free one of his claws, he dug into Yusuke's side, and barely managed to pull himself free.

They were facing each other again. Inuyasha charged, and in the time it would have taken to blink, had Yusuke's foot connect with the side of his head. Yusuke was going purely for knockout shots now. Kagome stared on, she still was lost, she couldn't seem to accept Yusuke was a demon. Miroku was looking on in total awe. Sango looked wary.

Yusuke contined delivering blows to Inuyasha's head, but he couldn't seem to knock him out, if this didn't stop soon then Inuyasha wouldn't have any brain cells left.

Inuyasha was the one barely doing any damage now, and the demon was getting frustrated, making wilder and wilder attacks. It wouldn't have been surprising to see him foaming at the mouth.

"Why won't you fuckin' pass the hell out?" Yusuke said, he was getting frustrated too, and Kagome was still trying to accept the fact that Yusuke was a demon (it didn't seem possible to her).

Yusuke concetrated his energy into his fist, he'd been refraining from this, out of fear of causing serious damage, but as it was, he would cause less doing this then continuing to beat on him with multiple hits. Yusuke yelled as he delivered a a superpowered right hook to Inuyasha's temple.

That was what did it. Inuyasha fell to the ground, clearly unconscious. Yusuke ran and picked up Tetsusaiga and jammed it in its sheath. He walked first to Kagome.

"I should probably explain this..." he said, looking sheepish.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULD!" Kagome yelled, smacking him across the face, but she didn't stop there, she brought the backside of the same hand to smack him, and then the front again, and then the back, and so on, all the while yelling.

"YOU JERK! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE! AND WHAT ABOUT BEING HONEST WITH EACH OTHER? YOU ARE SUCH A BASTARD! WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME ABOUT THIS ANYWAY?" Needless to say, she had finally accepted Yusuke as a demon.

"I ow don't know, ow. I just didn't want ow you to ow get second thoughts." Yusuke said; were he not in so much pain he would have realized he'd never heard Kagome swear before.

Kagome paused in her ruthless assualt to hear what Yusuke had to say (without the word "ow" being constantly thrown into his speech).

"Ok...well...remember how I said I died...well the second time it happened-"

"THE SECOND TIME??" Kagome yelled, he had left that out of his story before.

"I was on a case, I was up against the guy that was the Spirit Detective before me, and I was losing. I couldn't beat him, every time I got close he'd call out another personality, which was always stronger. Eventually I got to the point where I knew I couldn't win, so I decided that I'd 'motivate' my friends to be stronger, he'd had them all trapped in the stomach of some dimensional-demon thingy."

"When you say 'motivate'..."

"I let him kill me, I was hoping it'd give the guys the push they needed."

Kagome gasped, temporarily forgetting her anger.

"Anyway, they chased him down into demon world, you know, I could still hear everything that was going on...I've _never_heard Hiei yell like that." Yusuke realized he'd never thanked them properly for their rage on his behalf.

"What? I thought you said the worlds were seperated by a barrier."

"They are, that's why I had to take Sensui down, he was opening a tunnel between the worlds. Where was I?"

"Your friends chased him into Demon World." Kagome said, she was enthralled by this story, anger would return later.

"Yeah...they were pissed. I was lying on the ground, dead. King Enma, in his infinite wisdom, sent his special forces to make sure I stayed dead by destroying my body. Ya' see, one of my ancestors was something called the Mazoku or something, and since I was so strong, they knew I'd come back a demon. They may have been able to if-" Yusuke was cut off by a yell.

"Are you really Yusuke?" Sango asked, a threatening tone in her voice. She raised her weapon, just to be safe.

"Sango?" Kagome gasped, shocked.

"I'm sorry for this if you are still Yusuke, but I need proof." She'd heard alot about the Mazoku in the slayer village, she had to be sure...

"How the hell should I prove that? I'm Yusuke Urameshi, fearless defender of the good stuff, with a healthy dose of kickin' assness, and a general disregard for authority, and a few drops of demon blood mixed in with mine isn't going to change that."

Sango smiled. Only the real Yusuke would say something like that. "Sorry, but I had to check." She replaced her weapon.

"No problem...at least you didn't jump on me and attack right away." Yusuke said calmly, it took alot to shake him, and even though she didn't know it, she'd had a point.

"Your story..." Sango reminded him, Kagome was still looking between the two nervously.

"Right, like I was saying, they may have blasted me apart if Puu hadn't shown up and blocked all of their attacks."

"Who's Puu?"

"He's my Spirit Beast...kinda like a reflection of my inner self." Yusuke chose not to mention that the creature was normally cute and fuzzy. "After I got up, they all kinda freaked out. Puu flew me and Koenma to Demon World, I fought Sensui again, then my demon form kinda awakened during the fight and I...I beat him." He would tell Kagome about his loss of control later, he decided.

"Yusuke? Why haven't you been using your demon form this whole time?"

"I...uh...I...""_Crap, I didn't want the others to know." _Yusuke thought, he was looking for a way out, but found none.

"I...lost control, some one else took over my body during the fight. I haven't been in my demon form in a fight since then." Yusuke said, looking at the ground. He _had_changed a few times, just to see if he could, but never in a fight since Sensui, he was afraid he could lose control again, especially here, where his ancestor could have been.

Miroku could tell he hadn't wanted to say that. He chose to redirect the conversation.

"Didn't Lord Enma try to have you killed after that? Wasn't he afraid you would turn on them still?"

"Yeah, he actually had a hit out on me for a little bit, Koenma managed to convince him to call it off, as long as I kept being their lapdog."

"When did all this happen?" Kagome asked.

"A little over a month before I met you..." Yusuke responded. They went over to where Inuyasha was still lying unconscious. Yusuke hoped he wouldn't have to explain this to him too.

It was a while before Inuyasha came around. The first thing he noticed was Yusuke with long hair (everything else had returned to normal as soon as the fight had ended).

"What the hell happened?" Inuyasha asked rubbing his head.

"You went apeshit, so I kicked your ass." Yusuke supplied. Strangely enough, Inuyasha figured out almost exactly what had happened from that statement, even with a minor concussion.

"What the hell happened to your hair?"

"You aren't the only part demon here, ya' know."

Inuyasha didn't need to ask what that meant. He also seemed to accept the answer without question. Personal experience had told him that half-demons didn't really like to talk about their heritage.

They wouldn't be staying at that village since all the occupants were dead. After they had completed burying what bodies were left, Yusuke went to Kagome.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

"I know."

"I wanted to, but you gotta understand, I didn't think you'd think of me the same way."

"It'll be ok."

"In that case..." Yusuke moved in to kiss her, his face met her hand as she slapped him again (although much softer this time, it only hurt a little).

"I said it _will _be ok, right now it's not." Kagome said, her eyes and voice filled with anger; Yusuke knew he'd hurt her with his lack of trust. He sighed as he wondered if he would still be able to sleep with her that night.

Yusuke decided to let his hair stay as it was, not that he particularly liked it this way, but because he didn't think a sword would be able to get his hair back to normal. Yusuke had a strange feeling that Kagome liked his hair this way better anyway.

"_I like his hair better this way..."_Kagome thought to herself, "_He looks more...natural."_

They didn't move far from the village, just out of sight. Their two strongest fighters were both tired, and even though Yusuke's demon form had sped up the healing process considerably, he was still injured, not to mention Inuyasha was suffering from a headache of epic proportions. They made camp and got a fire going right as the sun went down.

"You know, I'm surprised you guys didn't ask more questions about the whole 'me being dead' thing," Yusuke said to Miroku and Sango. He was lying on his side, head propped up on his hand.

"After everything we've seen, someone sacrificing themselves and then coming back to life, isn't _too _strange." Sango said.

"What the hell? You were dead?" Inuyasha asked.

"I'm not telling this story twice in the same day, ask some other time, Rover."

Inuyasha didn't retort, Yusuke had done him a great service that day.

"I wish that damn demon had at least had a jewel shard, then it would have been worth coming out here." Inuyasha stated out of nowhere.

"Hey, at least we still kicked a big baddie's ass." Yusuke said; no one was cruel enough to mention that he had been in a catatonic state for most of the fight.

"Well, we're out of leads now, shoulda known Koga's would have been a dead end..." Inuyasha said.

"That's fine by me, we've gotten into enough fights lately, I think I can last another day or so without oneeeeeee OW! Could ya' give me a warning next time??" Yusuke asked. Kagome had just poured anti-septic over his wounds (more or less down his front, as he was on his side).

"If I had warned you, you would have tried to stop me."

"Well, yeah...but I..." Yusuke realized he didn't have a counter.

Kagome sat down near Yusuke.

"We shouldn't be outside tonight." Sango said.

"Why not?" Yusuke asked.

"You and Inuyasha are both injured, and with that demon dead, many lesser demons could come out of hiding."

"Meh, I'm ready to fight if I have to." Yusuke said casually.

For several hours they contemplated their next move. They talked in circles, none of them having any idea on how to proceed.

"I've been trying to pick something up on him since he showed up, but he's hiding his energy." Yusuke said.

"He hides his scent too." Inuyasha said.

"Not to mention I can't sense the jewel shards he has if he's not around." Kagome added.

It was getting late, and they still had no ideas. Kagome got into her sleeping bag as they prepared for bed.

"Room for one more?" Yusuke asked tentatively. Kagome sighed and allowed him some space.

Yusuke smiled at her as he got inside the sleeping bag too.

"Don't think I'm not mad at you."

"Don't worry, I won't."

The next morning held many surprises. For starters, Yusuke was the first awake, other than that he found that Kagome had turned around in the night, so they were now face to face (well, face to chest).

"Umm...Kagome?" Yusuke said. She woke up instantly, to see Yusuke looking down at her face.

Kagome didn't even say anything. She just looked back up at Yusuke, embarrassed. She vaguely remembered rolling over and cuddling into something when she was almost asleep.

"Not that I'm not happy with this, but what's with the new show of affection? I thought you were mad at me."

"I don't know what your talking about..." Kagome said, turning back around, her tone making it plain that Yusuke was not to mention this. Ever.

Yusuke drifted off again after a few minutes. Kagome stayed awake. She knew that she had known what she was doing on some level, and not that there was anything wrong with it, but she was supposed to be mad at him. She mentally sighed, her and Yusuke seemed incapable of staying mad at each other more then a few hours.

They moved out less then two hours later (Yusuke grumbling about having _just_ gotten back to sleep). They kept up a brisk pace for about half the day when they stumbled upon a fairly large manor.

"You know, I was just thinking how nice it would be to sleep _indoors_tonight." Miroku said. The rest of the party, with the exception of Yusuke, looked at him and nodded. Yusuke was wondering what the hell was going on. When the sun started to set, they approached the manor.

"Who goes there?" A guard asked.

"Greetings, my name is Miroku. I request an audience with your master."

"Why?"

"An ominous presence has appeared over this manor. As a traveling monk it is my duty to exercise it."

_"What the hell is Miroku talking about? There isn't any-OH! I get it!"_Yusuke thought.

The guards seemed to buy this. They were allowed in.

The master of the manor appeared to be a very paranoid man.

"You say you are a monk? Who are your companions?"

"The one in red is Inuyasha, and this lovely lady is Sango. They assist me with demons that are more flesh then spirit." So far he was buying it.

"And the one in the strange dress?"

"This is Priestess Kagome, she assist me with my exorcisms."

"And the boy?"

Miroku hesitated, he had never had to explain Yusuke in any of these false exorcisms.

"Him?...He's...my aprentice..." Miroku said. Yusuke had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

The master eyed him suspiciously.

"I've never seen a monk carry a sword before, much less an apprentice."

"It is a sentimental keepsake." Miroku lied quickly.

"How so?"

"It belonged to a friend of mine." Yusuke said. He had no idea where his lie had came from, but the master seemed to accept it.

"Very well, with the five of you working together, how long will it take?"

"At least the night."

"Then you will be requiring lodging, I suppose."

"Yes."

The master shot them all a look that plainly said 'Get out, now.' However, his mouth said: "Very well, I will make the arrangements."

"Good plan." Yusuke said as soon as the man had left the room.

"Yes, well, its not our first time."

"And people fall for it every time?"

"No, one time it didn't work, however, the manor _was_attacked by demons as I made my departure, sooo..." (Cursed Inc of the Hell Painter)

Miroku soon set to work, setting wards over all the entrances, Yusuke was shocked to discover they were real.

"No point in leaving them unprotected." Miroku said when Yusuke voiced his surprise.

They got a decent meal that night. They began performing their 'excorcism'. The manor's staff prepared bedding for them all (Yusuke ignoring his own, and getting into Kagome's), while Miroku prepared to 'meditate', which consisted of him sleeping while sitting up, his hands in a praying gesture.

"What are you so happy about?" Kagome asked, noticing Yusuke's smile.

"We're sleeping inside tonight. I can't stand the camping out."

After some time the staff blew out the candles and unlit the torches, Everyone fell asleep soon after (Miroku had been asleep for a while already, and no one would be doing guard duty tonight among the group). Yusuke thought he was in for a good nights sleep. He was wrong.

He was woken slightly more then an hour later by something being pulled roughly out of his arms and a familiar scream. Yusuke was on his feet within a second. Te others were up slightly afterward. Two guards were holding Kagome, each had a sword on her, ready to strike.

"What is the meaning of this?" Miroku asked angrily. The master walked in, a satisfied look on his face.

"You are a corrupt monk. What was your plan? Kill me during the night? Or perhaps rob me blind? You will not do either!" The man looked fairly insane.

"Let her go! NOW!" Barked Yusuke.

"You mean the priestess? No, no, I wouldn't want you to break your vows anymore, apprentice. Did you not think I would notice your little love affair?"

"You lay a fucking finger on her and you'll be begging me to kill you by the time I'm through!" Yusuke yelled. The guards took a step back, Yusuke hadn't noticed, but right as he had made that threat his eyes had started to glow with his energy, his long hair had begun to sway even though there was no wind.

"I'll kill every last one of you." Yusuke was going to fly into a blind rage if they didn't back down. The guards holding Kagome seemed to think their lives were worth more then what they were being paid, they backed off and ran. The others were quickly incapacitated by the rest of the group. The master ran forward with a sword of his own and was preparing to strike Kagome (he seemed strangely vindictive towards her). Yusuke rushed forward at full speed, with one hand he crushed one of the master's hands, which was now severely broken, with the other he began punching every inch of the man his fist could find. Yusuke didn't stop until the man coughed up blood.

"You don't deserve the relief of death, you deserve this pain." Yusuke said, sounding much more like Hiei then his usual self.

Yusuke walked away from the man, not looking at anyone. He felt shame, he had fully intended to kill the man, but came to his senses at the last second.

They left the manor, no one daring to speak to Yusuke, he was too unstable at the moment.

When they had gone far enough from the manor to feel confident that they weren't being pursued, they stooped, it wasn't _too _late in the night. Kagome approached Yusuke.

"You ok?" Kagome asked him, knowing the answer she would get.

"I'm fine." Yusuke lied (unsuccessfully).

"I know you're lying, Yusuke."

"I almost killed a person."

"You stopped, though."

"Still..."

"Yusuke, I'm not going to tell you it's alright. That's up to you. But you stopped, you didn't take a life, and most people would have."

Yusuke sighed. Kagome knew he'd be ok in the morning, but for right now there was nothing to be done.

Yusuke didn't sleep. He spent the entire night, slumped against a tree, contemplating Kagome's words. He'd long since accepted she was much smarter then him, he knew there was truth in what she had said. He realized that on some level he knew he would have stopped. Inuyasha came over to him.

"Listen, kid, I know you feel bad, but don't beat yourself up. You just lost control...I would have too..." Inuyasha said, in an uncharacteristicly wise and sympathetic moment.

Yusuke nodded. Inuyasha had been much less hostile lately, maybe he had gotten used to the idea of Yusuke and Kagome being together, maybe this was his way of thanking Yusuke for stopping him when he had transformed. Yusuke didn't question it.

Exactly one week later, however (well after Yusuke had bounced back), Yusuke was ready to pound on Inuyasha again. He had been particularly foul that day, for no apparent reason. Kagome had 'sit' him numerous times because he was being such a jerk to everyone, especially after making Shippo cry the third time.

Yusuke's restraint was cracking. It was a couple hours before sunset when he nearly broke. "THAT'S IT! EITHER WE STOP NOW SO I CAN GET AWAY FROM HIM, OR WE STOP NOW SO I CAN KICK HIS ASS!" Yusuke shouted. They chose to stop early so Yusuke could get away from him. Yusuke wandered off in one direction, and eventually found himself at a lake. After examining it closely, he realized he was on the opposite bank of the very same lake he had killed the ice demon in. He tested the water, it was warm, so Yusuke chose to go for a swim. He stripped down to his boxers (there's your damn fanservice) and hopped in the lake. He had just finished drying off and redressing when Kagome arrived.

"What's up?" He asked her.

"I couldn't stand Inuyasha anymore, I don't know why he's like this."

"Ah well, he's not here." Yusuke said.

Yusuke wasn't sure how it happened, but soon him and Kagome were playfully kissing each other, teasing the other just enough into kissing back before stopping. After one of these kisses, in which Yusuke had somehow ended up on his back, Kagome took a break.

"You know, I really love your hair like this, any chance it'll be permanent?"

"Nope, I'll leave it like this for a while though. Maybe another month or two...it's kinda hard to get all this through the neck hole on shirts."

They were both silent for a while, lying next to each other on the grass, the stars looked especially bright tonight since there was no moon in the sky. Yusuke turned his head to look at Kagome.

"Hey Kagome?" He said, very seriously, and nervously.

"Hmm?" She said, looking into his eyes.

"I love you."

* * *

Aaaannnddddd CUT! That turned out alot longer then I expected it to. Not sure when next will be up, though probably within a week. No real notes to make that I can think of, I guess I'll tell you about my future projects. After this, I plan to do a YYH/Harry Potter crossover, I know it's been done to death, but I'd like to see one finished (and without Yaoi). After that a YYH/Devil May Cry. After that, a more original fic (YYH, of course). Then YYH/Lord of the Rings, that one will take alot of time though, cuz I gotta reread the books. Please review.

_Next Chapter:_ A Powerful Enemy!

I'm not telling you who, but you can probably guess. Here's a hint, they haven't even been mentioned yet.


	13. A Powerful Enemy

I think everyone missed my foreshadowing from last chapter...not telling you where, and on a less light note: Ugh, this chapter is gonna be a pain in the ass, enjoy and please review!

_Hissy Cow:_ Hehe, wow, you just made me look like an ass, you leave that, and it's my longest spacing between chapters...my bad. Thanks for the review!

_Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi:_ I wanted to put both Raizen and Yoko in, but I never got the opportunity with Raizen, and Yoko presents a bit of a problem. If he _had_ met Yusuke in the Feudal era, then Kurama would know who he was, then would remember him in the present. Even if I made the stretch to where he wouldn't recognize him because of his long hair, then he would realize it when he saw Yusuke transform in the Sensui fight, also, he'd recognize the voice, and the scent of Yusuke. I just wish I hadn't thought of all that, cuz I really wanted to put him in. Oh well, maybe in the rewrite (I plan to write an alternate version of this fic when my skills improve, which will involve the entire team). Thanks for the review!

_Lily:_ Thank you, although I writing the feelings stuff id my least favorite, but I think I'm good at it, funny isn't it? Thanks for the review!

_PiratekitAG:_ Thank you so much, I love the compliment (it boost my already outrageously huge ego), I actually don't think I'm too good a writer, but I won't argue with my reviewers. I'm loving the response I'm getting, especially since this is my first fic. By the way, it makes _my_ day getting reviews. You're welcome, and Thanks for the review!

_Raine_: Yes, it was here. Sorry, but I can't reveal anything that's going to happen, I like to keep you guys in suspense. Thanks for the review!

_CapriaStar:_ Thank you. I love hearing stuff like that.

_Jessica:_ Yes, the long awaited admission of love has happened. As for what happens next, well, here ya' go! Thanks for the review!

* * *

"Hey Kagome?" Yusuke said, very seriously, and nervously.

"Hmm?" said Kagome, looking into his eyes.

"I love you." He said, pulse pounding.

All was silent, Yusuke waited, the wait seeming like an eternity. "_She's not going to say it back,"_ Yusuke thought.

Kagome had been thinking about this moment for a while, picturing it a thousand times, it was true, she loved Yusuke, but she just hadn't had the guts to tell him.

Yusuke waited, he was beginning to feel hurt.

"Nevermi-"

"I love you too." Kagome interrupted him, at long last.

And then they kissed, but it was different then usual, it was as pure and innocent as their first kiss, and got both's hearts pounding just as much as the first time, and for a moment, there was no Naraku, no jewel, no Spirit World, no demons. There was only Yusuke and Kagome. But as all good things, it came to an end; their lips parted.

"You are so damn beautiful." Yusuke said, looking into her cute face, her porcelain skin, her perfect figure; but he saw beyond all that too, to the color of her eyes, seeing more then what was physically there.

Kagome smiled at him, giving him a small peck. After almost another hour had passed, Yusuke keeping up a constant stream of how much he loved her, Yusuke said something that pulled Kagome out of this paradise.

"I'd make some lame-ass reference to you being more beautiful then the moon, but the damn thing ain't even out tonight."

"No moon?" Kagome said, suddenly horrified, and looking up.

"We have to go back. Now." She stated urgently.

"What's up? I say something wrong?"

"No, it's the others, they could be in danger!"

Yusuke got up, him and Kagome began running towards the camp, which was a decent way away. They had made camp on the edge of the forest. Yusuke was running slow enough for Kagome to keep up, until he could see the scene at the camp.

Inuyasha was standing there, but he looked different. He had black hair, no claws, and Yusuke suspected no fangs. He had Tetsusaiga in his hand, but it hadn't transformed, he was facing a demon with long silver-white hair. They were sword fighting, and Inuyasha was losing. Tetsusaiga was struck from his hands and stuck in the ground several feet away. Yusuke ran flat out.

"Alright, you bastard, kill me if you're gonna, just do it quick so I don't have to look at your face anymore."

The demon charged and prepared to swipe directly downwards.

_Clap._

Yusuke had caught the sword between both his hands, but not without a cost. Blood dropped from between his hands.

"You're in my way. Stand aside." Said the demon.

"Yeah right! Inuyasha isn't as powerful as normal, I'm not gonna let you take advantage of that, even if he is a pain in the ass." Yusuke said, observing the demon while still holding back the sword, this demon only had one arm, but alot of power.

"You know nothing of this fight." The demon said; he was too damn _calm._

"I don't really give a shit, _Fluffy._" Yusuke said, noticing the strange accessory over the demon's shoulder.

"You would mock me? Lord Sesshoumaru?" said the demon, his eyes glowing red threateningly.

"You bet yer ass I would." Yusuke said, exposing his aura. Yusuke could feel the demon's power; this fight was going to be tough.

This fight was going to be fun.

Yusuke moved the sword off to the side, instantly taking a swipe at Sesshoumaru, who dodged.

"You are pathetic; I won't bloody my sword for the likes of you." Sesshoumaru said, sheathing his blade.

"Your funeral."

Yusuke said. Sesshoumaru moved so quickly Yusuke almost missed it. Sesshoumaru had his claws in Yusuke's stomach, not deep, but the poison still penetrated.

"You will soon be dead, that poison can overcome any human in a matter of seconds."

"I'm no ordinary human." Yusuke said.

Sesshoumaru betrayed a look of surprise, before he _smiled_.

Yusuke punched him, sending him skidding back several feet. The poison may have been meant to kill a normal human, but it was still affecting its target, Yusuke feeling more and more weakened as the fight went on, he landed a few more hits, but Sesshoumaru had hit him more by this point. As much as he was enjoying the fight, Yusuke knew he had to end it. He jumped back to a safe distance.

"Spirit Gun!" He yelled as he fired a large blast at Sesshoumaru. When the dust cleared, Sesshoumaru was still on his feet, even if he did look injured. He drew his sword. Yusuke followed suite. Both felt the joy of a worthy foe. Inuyasha could go toe to toe with Sesshoumaru, but the fights were far too personal to be enjoyable.

The swords clashed. Yusuke was completely on the defensive.

"Sango? Can he win?" Kagome asked. Sango did after all know Yusuke's sword fighting skills best.

"He's improved greatly; he might even surpass me soon, but against an opponent like Sesshoumaru..." Sango trailed off.

"Sesshoumaru's toying with him." Inuyasha said (and he was right). Sesshoumaru definitely wasn't making any killing strikes. He knocked Yusuke's sword away just as he had done with Tetsusaiga, and put his blade to the side of Yusuke's neck.

"Get your wounds treated; the poison will overcome you soon." Sesshoumaru said, sheathing his blade. Everyone was so shocked that they didn't try to stop him as he walked away.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha was the first to recover his voice.

Kagome was already rushing to Yusuke with antidotes, anti-septic, and bandages.

"What was that about?" Kagome asked, she couldn't help but notice Yusuke had a smile on his face.

"That was a good fight."

"You're such an idiot."

"No arguments here."

"How does that feel?" Kagome asked, wrapping his stomach; she had just finished sterilizing the wound.

"Alright. By the way, who was that guy?"

"Inuyasha's brother." Kagome said.

"What?? Why was he trying to kill him?"

"They hate each other."

"And I thought my family was dysfunctional..."

Kagome examined Yusuke's torso, the first time she had seen him shirtless, it had been absolutely free of scars, now, after just a few weeks in the feudal era, it was much different. There was the scar on his back, from the first battle with Inuyasha, a few more on his chest and stomach from the second fight with Inuyasha, and there would be one in his stomach now from this most recent fight. Kagome almost cried.

"What's wrong?" Yusuke asked, noticing her saddened expression.

"You fight so hard, you have so many scars now; you didn't have any when you came here."

"Those'll be gone in a few months." Yusuke said casually, "These aren't the first scars I've had, they always fade."

Kagome looked unconvinced.

"Fine, don't believe me, I'll prove it then, I know you'll be trying to get me topless again by then anyway." Yusuke said, "You know, I haven't tried to get _you_ topless in a while..."

"And you'd be an idiot to try again."

"I _am_ an idiot, you said it yourself." Yusuke said, grinning broadly.

Kagome let out an angry huff, Yusuke had just defeated her in a battle of wits, thankfully though, he made no further attempts to get her to remove her top.

"So what's up with Dog-boy? Why's he a human?"

"He reverts to his human form once a month, on the night of the new moon. Bad things have a habit of happening on these nights."

"Explains why he was so bitchy earlier."

Yusuke quickly recovered his sword, then, after giving Kagome a swift kiss on the cheek, he walked over to Sango.

"We need to train more soon, he kicked my ass there."

"Yusuke, Sesshoumaru is an extremely skilled swordsman and fighter; I couldn't have beaten him with twice my skill."

"Well damn." Yusuke said, though making a note to train harder anyway. He and Sango were on near even footing at the moment with sword skill. Yusuke returned to Kagome, their wonderful time together had been cut short.

"So what do we do now?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were in the middle of something when you realized everyone one was in danger, so..."

"Yusuke, we can't leave them tonight, its amazing Sesshoumaru left when he did."

Yusuke sighed. "I mighta been able to beat him if it wasn't for that damn poison."

"Why didn't you transform?"

"I don't like to, I only did last time 'cuz you were in danger, I got the feeling Fluffy wouldn't kill anyone besides Inuyasha. But enough about them..." Yusuke said, using an incredibly hilarious name for the demon lord.

Less then a minute passed.

"Can we at least go hide in the bushes or something?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "No Yusuke."

"I don't wanna do anything; I just kinda want some privacy..." Yusuke said.

"Do you think they'll think that?"

"Alright, you win." Yusuke said, throwing up his arms in defeat. He really wanted to be alone with Kagome right now, even if all they were doing was lying in the grass, staring at the stars.

They rejoined the rest of the group, who had been shooting them curious glances.

"I guess I'm not gonna sleep tonight. Just in case something else happens." Yusuke told them.

"Feh, we don't need you to stay awake," Inuyasha said.

"Yeah, 'cuz you handled that so well yourself."

"Stop it you two." Kagome warned them.

They both stopped arguing. After a while, Kagome got tired and began getting ready to sleep. She climbed into her sleeping bag, a few seconds later Yusuke was sitting against a nearby tree.

"I thought you were staying up."

"I am, why do you think I'm not in there with you? I just wanna be over here in case something sneaks up on us." Yusuke said.

Kagome fell asleep. Yusuke was asleep against the tree about an hour later; he'd underestimated how much energy the fight with Sesshoumaru had taken.

"_Kagome?" Yusuke asked, seeing a dark silhouette on the ground a few feet away. The form didn't move._

_"Kagome, are you ok?" Yusuke asked again. Still no answer._

_Yusuke tried to run over to her form, but couldn't seem to get any closer._

_A strange light lit up the scene. The light was dark blue, and somehow felt like death._

_Kagome's body was lying in a pool of blood, she was clearly dead, while a figure hovered nearby._

_"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER, YOU BASTARD??" Yusuke raged at the figure. He couldn't make the figure out. Naraku's laugh filled his ears._

Yusuke awoke with a start. The dream had been intense. He listened; Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha were all talking lowly. He listened more, and heard what he had wanted to hear: Kagome's deep, slow breathing. He fell back asleep.

"I think we should tell Yusuke to go home." Miroku said.

"Why? He's been extremely helpful." responded Sango.

"He has nothing to do with this; he has no reason to care if Naraku gets killed."

"Coming to care for him, Inuyasha?" Miroku said.

"Feh, gimme a break, the kid's a pain in the ass."

"I think it would be a bad idea even to suggest it, firstly, he wants to be here to protect Kagome, and even if we somehow forced him to go back then sealed up the well, he would probably find a way back. He's even more stubborn then you, Inuyasha."

"He's been injured in just about every fight so far."

"Some of them against you."

"Sango has a few good points, Yusuke's primary reason for being here is protecting Kagome, which he is certainly capable of doing, I know you desire for Kagome to be safe." Miroku said, he seemed to be in the middle now, even though it had been his suggestion.

Inuyasha couldn't deny this. He felt the same about Kagome as he always had.

"Am I being outvoted again?" Inuyasha asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes, it seems that way."

Inuyasha swore. He knew Yusuke was powerful, but the fact that he was an outsider (who was with Kagome) still bugged him.

Yusuke awoke the next morning, later then everyone else as usual. Ignoring the slight pain in his stomach, he got up.

"You guys suck," he said to Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango. "I told you I was stayin' up."

"We saw no reason to wake you, after all, the three of us have handled these nights before." Miroku supplied.

"Whatever. Don't let it happen again." Yusuke told them.

Kagome smiled at him. Yusuke looked at her and remembered his dream. "_It was just a nightmare."_ he told himself.

After a quick breakfast, they set out, heading west. Kagome was really hoping that wherever they stopped next, there would be a hot spring. Around midday, Yusuke got a strange feeling, like they were being watched from far away; really it was more like they were being tracked. Yusuke shook the feeling off as paranoia, due to the fact that his dream been creepy. No one else seemed to notice anything, so Yusuke decided not to mention it.

They stopped earlier then usual that night. Yusuke had long forgotten the feeling that he was being watched. After a quick look around, Shippo informed Kagome that there was in fact a hot spring nearby. Sango didn't seem to want to go.

"Yusuke, come." Kagome called Yusuke like a dog as she started walking away. Yusuke followed.

"So...what do you have planned?" Yusuke asked very eagerly.

"I plan to bathe while you stand guard and NOT peek." Kagome said, she wasn't only bringing him along to keep an eye out for Miroku, but she wasn't a fighter, so if anything happened she would have been helpless without Sango.

"Fine." Yusuke said he sounded annoyed, but Kagome knew he didn't mind _too_ much; he was probably only disappointed because he had thought they would be bathing together. They walked a bit further along the path.

"Ok, here's good." Kagome said. She had stopped at a place that was just far enough so that if Yusuke looked, he wouldn't be able to see anything of significance.

"Don't come unless I call you, ok?"

Yusuke nodded.

"Thanks, I'll make it up to you later, assuming you don't peek."

The instant Kagome left, Yusuke plopped down on the ground, facing the opposite direction. It was only a few minutes before his mind began to wander.

"_Damn this is boring...why couldn't Sango have come? It's not like I mind keeping guard for Kagome, but this is practically torture, I mean, the girl I love is just a little bit away behind me, completely naked, and here I am, sittin' my ass down in the grass. Kagome's lucky I'm such a good boy for her...SHIT! I gotta ditch all the porn in my room before she sees it! I'm so lucky she didn't find any of it last time she was there." _Yusuke's train of thought was completely incoherent.

Kagome's mind was wandering a well.

"_Poor Yusuke, I know this has to be hard for him. I hope he can endure it. I have no idea what I'll do if he peeks..." _Kagome left that thought there, she realized she didn't have _too_ big a problem with the idea of him seeing her naked, at least not as much as she had previously thought (she'd still pummel him if he did peek, she wasn't _that_ secure).

Much more time passed. Kagome was just about to leave the soothing water when she heard a rustle from the bushes, which set her on high alert; she'd wait and see if this was a real threat, before calling Yusuke.

"_She takes a long-ass time to take a bath...what the hell is taking so lon-?"_ Yusuke's thought were interrupted.

"AHHHH! YUSUKE!" Kagome screamed.

Yusuke rushed to the scene; ready for battle, when he arrived he saw a truly strange sight. There was an old man standing there, but something was wrong, he had grotesque wounds all over his body, there was no way a normal human could survive that kind of damage, his skin was cut in so many places, but he wasn't bleeding. If it wasn't for the fact that he was moving then Yusuke would have been sure he was dead, as it was, he was moving very strangely, as if not under the body's own will, more like a marionette. Yusuke was about to punch when the figure spoke.

"You are nearing your goal." it said in a raspy voice.

"What?" Yusuke asked.

"Head to the mountain in the north, at its base, you will find who you are looking for." The figure fell to the ground instantly after saying these words

Yusuke would think about that later, he swung around to check on Kagome.

"Kagome, are you alr-?" Yusuke stopped mid word as he took in the sight, Kagome's perfect body was right in front of his eyes, he had had his back to Kagome the entire time and completely forgotten why he was the only one nearby. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

"Yusuke? What's wro-" Kagome remembered what was going on too. She simultaneously uttered a small scream, shielded what she could with her arms, and shot back in the water. Yusuke had turned around, red in the face, at the same time.

"You pervert!"

"It was an accident! I forgot you were naked!" Yusuke said defensively (and honestly).

Kagome let out an angry huff as she began to dry off. When she was fully clothed she looked over at Yusuke, he was examining the body.

"Something's not right; there are traces of Demon Energy on the corpse." He was saying, more to himself then to her.

"We'd better tell the others..." Kagome said.

They began their walk back.

"I'm sorry." Yusuke said.

"I'll bet." Kagome didn't need to ask what he meant.

"Really, I am. I forgot, I swear."

"We'll talk about this later." Kagome said, making a mental note to avoid the topic like the plague.

"If it makes ya' feel any better I liked what I saw." Yusuke said; wrong move. Kagome turned around and slapped him.

"I'll _think_ about letting that go." She said.

"It's a compliment!" Yusuke protested.

Kagome said nothing as she groaned exasperatedly, but she was calming down quickly.

"Listen, to make it even, you can see me naked." Yusuke said.

"We both know it's not the same. First of all, you've already told me you wouldn't have a problem with it; second, it's not the same because you'd be _letting_ me." Kagome's voice held only a hint of anger now. Yusuke's peculiar brand of charm was working its magic.

"I really am sorry."

Kagome turned to him; he had been lagging behind her the entire time in a semblance of shame.

"I know." Kagome said, her voice was soft. She'd known from the start that it had been accidental, but that didn't stop her from being embarrassed.

They arrived back at camp.

"We have news." Kagome said. She repeated the corpse's message.

"That's not all," Yusuke said, "I could feel traces of Demon Energy on the guy's corpse, I think he was dead from the start..."

Everyone realized what that meant. They knew a demon that could control corpses, a demon that would know _exactly_ where to find Naraku.

"It's a trap." Inuyasha said, "That corpse was obviously sent by Kagura!"

This would be a long night of debate.

* * *

Done! As you can probably tell, this fic is drawing to a close; I think I have two or three more chapters. Sorry about taking so long to update, I got a new computer, and had to transfer all the fic data over, plus I've been working alot, not to mention I'm still not happy with the Sesshoumaru vs. Yusuke fight, what's there now is just the best I could get it, and I got writer's block in the middle of the chapter. Oh well, hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter should be out soon, I won't give you an estimate, but I have it planned out pretty well, now I just have to hope my old monitor doesn't give out while I'm writing it. Please review!

**Next Chapter:** Showdown at Naraku's Castle!


	14. Showdown at Naraku's Castle

Not sure if I have one or two more chapters after this, depends I guess. I had to put the beginning of next chapter as the end of this chapter, this was too short (this part of the note added _after _I finished). By the way, I made a fairly...controversial...decision for this chapter. If you don't like it, well I guess that sucks, doesn't it? _**IMPOTANT NOTICE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAPTER!! PLEASE READ IT WHEN YOU FINISH!!**_ Enjoy and please review!

_**WARNING:**_ Slight Citrus flavoring. Ok, maybe more then slight...but less then extreme, bah, just read it.

_Raine: _Hehe, enjoy! All I can say, really. Thanks for the review!

_Hissy Cow:_ Well, I was nice and quick this time for ya'. SCREW YOU, UNIVERSE! Thanks for the review!

_Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi:_ Ugh, that fight took seventeen revisions, I almost started bashing my head on the keyboard and hoping that it would randomly generate a fight, glad you like the final version. Thanks for the review!

_SeireiteiBadAss:_ I like the pairing too, though right after I started writing this I had a huge urge to write a Yus/Kei, glad I got over it. Thanks for the review!

_**DO NOT FORGET ABOUT THE IMPORTANT NOTICE!!**_

* * *

"It's a trap!" Inuyasha said, "That corpse was obviously sent by Kagura!"

"What? You mean the wind-bitch? She can control corpses?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes!"

"Wait, why didn't she just kill me? She could have easily before I had a chance to call Yusuke..." Kagome interjected.

"Maybe so Naraku could lead us into a false state of security and try to kill us all at once." Inuyasha said.

"That seems likely." Sango agreed, "The question is: do we walk into this potential trap in the hopes of confronting Naraku?"

The discussion went on for over an hour, Miroku being the only one not speaking, he seemed to be thinking about something.

"I don't think it's a trap." He said at last.

"What? Why not?" Inuyasha questioned. Miroku took his time answering.

"Kagura has seen you in your human form before, yet apparently she has never told Naraku; these always lead me to believe that she is not completely loyal to him." Miroku started, "And now, with this more recent development, I am almost sure. Kagura could have killed Kagome and used her body to tell us, or killed her and delivered the message to Yusuke, since he was nearby."

"I dunno...this still seems fishy." Inuyasha said.

"We have no other leads, if it turns out to be a trap...well; it's not the first time."

"So we're goin' for it?" Yusuke asked, his face shining with anticipation and excitement.

"It seems that way..."

"HELL YEAH!"

"If Kagura meant the place I think she meant, then it will take us three days to reach it; a week if we give ourselves proper time to prepare."

"We set out in the morning." Inuyasha said. The excitement in the campsite that night was tangible; at last, the long journey could be coming to an end. No one slept much that night.

As promised, they set out the next morning, traveling all day, stopping only briefly to eat. That night was much more subdued. It was Kagome that approached Yusuke with the suggestion.

"Yusuke, you know you don't have to be here. You could go home..." Kagome said to Yusuke, she was surprised when he smirked.

"I figured you'd say that, but I told you before, I'm not going anywhere until this is over. I'm not leaving you alone." Yusuke said, "I know you guys are strong, but Naraku is strong too, besides, it won't be just us fighting."

Kagome was confused by the last bit.

"Who else is fighting?"

"Koga, Sesshoumaru, and Kikyo are on the move too; their energy has been on the move since earlier today; apparently they were all near us. Anyway, I'm not going home, no matter how you try and convince me otherwise."

"I didn't think you'd really leave, just thought I should give it a shot." Kagome said, acknowledging defeat. She spent the rest of the night by Yusuke's side, realizing that in just a few days that they may never have that opportunity again. It was a grim prospect. They fell asleep together, sleeping face to face (like every night since they had admitted their love).

The next day passed the same, without Kagome trying to convince Yusuke to go home. The next day, they stopped earlier, they were nearing Naraku's castle, and it was time to prepare.

"Yusuke, come with me." Sango said as soon as they'd stopped. She led him to a clearing.

"We will train, all day, everyday, until the night before we attack Naraku. Understood?" Sango said forcefully. Yusuke nodded.

"Good," then, without further delay Sango unsheathed her sword and attacked. Yusuke barely had time to defend. As much as he had improved, Sango was still better then him. These fight when on for about fifteen minutes, before it resulted in a win by Sango. The entire day went on in this pattern, Sango usually winning, she had stopped holding back; she knew she had to teach Yusuke everything she could before the battle. They returned just before sunset (they hadn't stopped, even to eat), both were exhausted and hungry.

"This looks great." Yusuke said, the meal was simple, but Yusuke was so hungry at the moment that anything looked good to him.

"How was training today?"

"Sango kicked my ass, as usual." Yusuke said.

"It took much longer, though." Sango added.

The next day started much earlier for Yusuke, it sun hadn't even fully risen when he was woken up by Sango.

"Are you ready, Yusuke?" Sango asked him.

"Yeah, just lemme tell Kagome." Yusuke said, gently waking her.

"I'm going with Sango to go train now; I'll see you when we get back." He whispered to her.

"Ok," she responded sleepily, before falling back asleep. Yusuke disentangled himself from her and got out of the sleeping bag.

Yusuke knew that they wouldn't be coming back until at least lunch, he was wishing there was food left from last night.

The training began as usual, but about halfway to lunch, things started to change. Sango still won the skirmishes most of the time, but it was taking longer and longer each time. By the time lunch came around both were leaning on their swords and breathing heavily, they had needed a break after the forty-five minute battle anyway.

"Let's get some food." Yusuke said, taking the initiative to stop for the first time.

"I agree." said Sango.

They walked back to camp and ate slowly, both wanting to take as long a break as possible. Eventually however, they could delay no longer, and found themselves out training again. This time was different, however, they battled and battled, both warriors had become worn out before a victor had been decided; they took a short break, both waiting for the time to start again. They both charged again, after a few blocks and parries the found themselves in a stalemate; the tip of Sango's blade was pointing at Yusuke's heart, Yusuke had his blade ready to cut Sango's throat.

"Simultaneous finish." Sango whispered. It was the highest honor any swordsman could offer another. "I have nothing more to teach you, Yusuke." She said, straightening up and sheathing her blade. Yusuke sheathed his blade as well and found Sango's hand on his shoulder.

"I am very honored to have taught you, Yusuke. I have never before seen anyone with as much natural talent as you. Promise me you will find someone that can teach you beyond what I have."

"I will," Yusuke said, he liked and respected Sango, and would do his best to comply with her wishes.

They went back to camp.

"I didn't expect you two for another couple of hours." Kagome said.

"Yusuke has completed his training under me." Sango said.

Congratulations were given, before the discussion of battle again.

"Tomorrow will be our last day of rest before we attack, we should reach the castle by nightfall the day after." Inuyasha said.

Yusuke slept peacefully that night, he was worn from the days training; at least tomorrow he would get to rest.

He awoke a few hours after sunrise, and after a nice breakfast, he went over to Kagome.

"You notice that Miroku and Sango are gone?" he asked her.

"They left a few minutes ago; Miroku said he had to talk to her."

After eating, Yusuke did something he hadn't done since going to the feudal era, he began to meditate; the day before the battle seemed like a good time to do it.

"Umm...Yusuke?" Kagome asked, she'd never seen him do this.

"Yeah?" He responded, opening one eye.

"What are you doing?"

"Meditating, Grandma said I should do it every day, but I haven't been, she'll beat my ass if she ever finds out."

"Ok, I'll leave you alone for a bit."

"You don't have to, I'm only half-assin' this."

Kagome left him alone anyway, she knew it would be best. Yusuke stopped when Miroku and Sango got back about fifteen minutes later.

"Welcome back." He said with a smirk, neither of them did anything more then nod.

The day passed slowly, they were quiet, everyone was nervous. It was just before sunset when Kagome approached Yusuke.

"Yusuke, come with me." Kagome said. He followed her to the edge of the forest; to somewhere they could watch the setting sun.

"I always love watching the sunset, it makes me feel so peaceful." Kagome said.

Yusuke merely grunted in agreement, the only thing he found special about sunsets were that they made Kagome happy. The sun disappeared from their view, so Kagome diverted her attention to the one thing that made her feel more at peace: Yusuke.

Things started off typically enough, soft kisses, punctuated by an occasional 'I love you' from each side, but soon they changed. Yusuke was on his back with Kagome on top of him; tongues battling fiercely. One of Kagome's hands was in Yusuke's long hair, the other was working its way from his cheek to his chest, and further, until it had the button of his jeans in its fingers. Kagome was about to undo it when she found Yusuke's hand stopping her. He broke the kiss.

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Kagome?" He asked her, his voice as serious as his face.

"Yes." Kagome said. She knew she wanted this, the thought had run through her mind countless times since Yusuke had said 'I love you', she could _tell_ Yusuke wanted it to happen, and after all, they could die tomorrow.

She undid the button and was working on the zipper when a voice interrupted them.

"Kagome? Yusuke? Where are you guys?" Shippo's voice rang out.

"Son of a bitch." Yusuke said under his breath. Kagome got off of him and he quickly zipped up; Shippo was still a kid, and this wasn't something he should see.

"Oh! There you guys are!"

"Hello Shippo. Did you need us for something?" Kagome asked kindly. Yusuke marveled at her patience.

"Not really, Inuyasha just told me to go looking for you guys and to make sure you weren't being bad." Shippo said.

"Being bad?"

"Well, he _really_ said naughty...I don't get it, what did he mean?"

Yusuke made a silent oath to pound Inuyasha into oblivion the second they defeated Naraku.

"Its...nothing, don't worry about it, Shippo."

"He also said to stay with you guys until you decided to come back." Shippo said, he didn't have a problem with this plan; he hadn't been getting near as much attention from Kagome as usual.

Kagome made the exact same oath as Yusuke. Yusuke bore no ill will towards the young fox, this was the dog's fault. They sat talking to Shippo a while longer, since it would look suspicious if they returned immediately.

"So what were you guy doing out here?" Shippo asked.

"Watching the sun set." Kagome said.

"That was over a while ago.

"Yes, well, we were talking."

"Oh, ok." Shippo said, blissfully ignorant to what really had been happening.

They made their way back to camp, the first thing Yusuke did was walk over to Inuyasha and whisper "I am going to fucking murder you," into one of his ears. Yusuke made his way over to Kagome after that.

"Talk about a mood killer..." He said, looking at Inuyasha and Shippo.

"I know, but we should have expected this." Kagome sighed. Inuyasha had been jealous of them from the start why should that have changed?

Yusuke sighed as well, their time would have to wait until after the battle , assuming they both survived.

Yusuke and Kagome went to bed together. Yusuke had the nightmare again, and he didn't go back to sleep (luckily it had been just about dawn, so he didn't lose much sleep). He decided to talk to Miroku, who was up for guard.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Nothing much, I must admit that I think keeping guard is rather pointless at the moment, we're on Naraku's doorstep, at this point he'll wait for us to come to him."

"Miroku, I've gotten everyone's story except yours, why d you want the bastard dead?"

"You have seen my Wind Tunnel, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Every year, it grows just a little bit larger, until one day it consumes me."

"That sucks, but what's it got to do with Naraku?"

"Naraku is the one that put this curse on my grandfather, killing him is the only way to stop it." They fell silent for a while, until Yusuke couldn't resist asking...

"Do you know anything about dream interpretation?" He asked suddenly, unable to get the image of Kagome lying in a pool of blood out of his mind.

"A little bit. However, I believe that dreams are nothing to take seriously. Why do you ask?"

"Just a nightmare." Yusuke said.

"The one in which Lady Kagome dies?"

"How did you-?"

"You speak quite clearly in your sleep, Yusuke."

"Oh..." Yusuke said, inwardly cursing his sleep talking.

"In my opinion, it is just a fear you are unwilling to face, so your mind must do it while you are asleep." They fell silent again, until Miroku woke Inuyasha up for the final watch. Yusuke chose not to speak to him.

They ate a small breakfast, just enough to keep hunger at bay until lunch. They set out at a brisk pace, they wanted to reach the castle by nightfall. They stopped to eat again when they were only a couple hours journey from Naraku's castle at their current pace, the sun was just starting to get lower. Yusuke ate very little, he was finished before everyone else. He left Kagome's side and went to Inuyasha's.

"Inuyasha, listen up, cuz I'm only gonna say all this once." He whispered, barely moving his lips (not that anyone would have noticed if he did, they were all paying attention to their food).

"You still care alot about Kagome, and seeing her get hurt would kill you wouldn't it? Don't lie, now's not the time."

"Yes." Inuyasha breathed after a second's hesitation.

"Good, 'cuz I need you with me on this. After we start walking again, I'm going to go to Kagome, the second I do, take off as fast as you can for the castle, I'll be with you right after that. I refuse to let her get hurt, we're taking him out alone, got it?"

"Kagome won't like this..." He said.

"I know, but she's not getting hurt, she's not going to die, not while I'm around!"

"Fine, I'll do it." Inuyasha whispered back.

They began their trek again shortly after, Yusuke walking next to Inuyasha. He moved to Kagome's side, and kissed her deeply.

"Kagome, I love you." He said, Kagome didn't like how his voice sounded; it sounded like 'goodbye'.

"I love you too..." She said back.

"And I'm sorry..."

"For what?"

"This." He said, before turning and running after Inuyasha at top speed.

Miroku and Sango unclasped each other's hands and ran to Kagome.

"Inuyasha took off as well, they're planning on doing this alone!" Sango exclaimed.

They took off at a run, but they couldn't get close to matching Inuyasha's and Yusuke's speed.

Meanwhile, far ahead, Yusuke had caught up to Inuyasha and unleashed his demon power, he wasn't going to screw around with this fight. He could feel Koga getting closer, as well as Sesshoumaru, he had lost track of Kikyo's energy a while ago since she had less of a soul; she was much harder to keep track of.

"THERE IT IS!" Inuyasha yelled as the castle came into view. They were very close, when they found their way blocked by a barrier.

"Damn it! We can't get through!" Yusuke cursed.

"Watch this." Inuyasha said, he pulled out Tetsusaiga, and it began to glow red, it dissolved the barrier.

"Let's go!" Yusuke called, Sesshoumaru passing them.

"Right." Inuyasha said as they took off again. They passed Sesshoumaru by jumping the over a wall. Koga was about a minute behind. They rounded into the courtyard, which was heavy with purified Miasma, in the middle was Naraku _talking_ to Kikyo.

" But it seems your lover has joined us, let us not put this battle off any longer!"

"BRING IT ON MOTHER FUCKER!" Yusuke yelled as he powered up his Demon Gun. Had he been paying attention to Naraku's face, he would have seen him smile. He fired, the shot connected. There was Naraku, completely unhurt. "Your demon powers are useless, I can absorb them in such a raw form."

Yusuke changed back to human form (which only consisted of his tattoos disappearing). Naraku underwent his own transformation, he showed his true form; the ugly, spider like, tentacle ridden, one.

"WIND SCAR!" Inuyasha yelled, sending the attack straight at Naraku, who seemed to erect a barrier around himself. Kikyo fired an arrow, but it was much weaker then Kagome's were. Yusuke began to charge up his Spirit Gun. Sesshoumaru and Koga had arrived, both attacking Naraku directly, but their attacks did no good, his severed limbs pulled themselves back together.

"Naraku, suck on this!" Yusuke yelled, he was about to fire, when Naraku shot a tentacle at him, he dodged and began running forward, jumping to the side whenever Naraku shot another tentacle in his direction. He was at point blank range now!

"SPIRIT GUN!" He roared, firing into Naraku's large face. Naraku's barrier took the brunt of the attack, but Yusuke had thrown half of his power into it; Naraku did not escape undamaged. Naraku was about to attack when something distracted him...

"DANCE OF BLADES!" Kagura yelled, attacking Naraku. Naraku's barrier was weakening, he could no longer fully repel attacks.

Yusuke pulled out his sword and began to slash wildly at Naraku's face, the sword seemed to have an edge of energy as well as an edge of metal. He was slammed back after a few seconds; both came from the attack injured, Yusuke a bit worse, as Naraku's face began to repair itself.

A large boomerang slashed across Naraku's back at the same time a sutra and a glowing arrow did. Kagome, Sango, and Miroku had arrived. Naraku regenerated from the attack from the boomerang, as well as the attack from the arrow and the sutra, but the last two took more than twice as long.

The battle raged on. Naraku was putting up an incredible fight, they had managed to wound him, but he had managed to wound all of them in turn. He was trying to kill Kagome the most (Kikyo had disappeared as soon as Kagome had arrived), but found himself blocked by Yusuke, Inuyasha, or Koga every time. He may have succeeded in one attempt if a scythe on a chain hadn't come out of nowhere and sliced off the attacking tentacle. Kohaku had joined the fight.

Yusuke was low on Spirit Energy; one more Spirit Gun and he would be completely out, there wasn't even enough left to wound Naraku...not unless...no he wouldn't resort to that unless he had to...

Kagome had only two arrows left. Sango had to resort to her sword since her dominant hand and arm were injured.

Inuyasha used the Wind Scar again, leaving Naraku mortally wounded. There was a swarm of Miasma, and Naraku began to rise upward, he was trying to escape. He was too high for any melee fighters to hit, Kagome and Yusuke had to act fast (Kagura was unconscious).

Yusuke began charging his Spirit Gun; he would have to resort to his last stock of power, after all, it had worked on Suzaku...

Kagome drew an arrow, one of the two she had left.

"NARAKU!" She cried, firing an arrow.

"DIE!" Yusuke yelled, firing a Spirit Gun made up mostly of his life energy. Both attacks hit Naraku dead-on, there was a final curse of Naraku's voice, a burst of pink going in every direction, and then all Yusuke knew was the darkness of death.

The battlefield was silent, no cries of victory were made. Yusuke was lying on the ground, completely immobile. Kagome ran over to him and flipped him over; tears in her eyes.

"_NO! HE CAN'T BE DEAD! Please..." _She thought desperately. Yusuke didn't move, his arm just hung limply to the side as she put his head on her lap.

He wasn't breathing, there was no heartbeat, no pulse to speak of.

"NO!" She cried out loud this time. Every single combatant had gathered around Yusuke's body.

"Kagome...it's time to let him go..." Sango said, trying to put her hand on Kagome's shoulder; she was crying too. Kagome waved her hand away as she clutched Yusuke's shell even closer to her chest. Miroku was praying, Inuyasha had sheathed Tetsusaiga and was silently looking at Yusuke's limp form, him and Yusuke had never gotten along well, but he had respected him, and the shock of someone so strong being killed in the last moment of the battle had gotten to him.

It was some time before anyone else made a move to Kagome; Sesshoumaru was the one who did next.

"Put him down." He ordered in his calm and cold voice.

"No!"

Sesshoumaru didn't ask again, he grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her roughly to the side. He unsheathed Tensusaiga and plunged it into the ground at Yusuke's side.

Nothing happened. Was Yusuke too far gone?

And then, slowly, Yusuke's chest began to rise and fall. Sesshoumaru pulled his sword out of the ground and sheathed it. As he walked away he said "I do not know when, or if, he will regain consciousness."

The group that had traveled with Yusuke rejoiced. He was alive.

"And is Naraku really dead?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yes," said Miroku, a smile on his face as he removed the prayer beads from his once cursed hand.

When Yusuke woke up, they would have one hell of a party.

Yusuke opened his eyes, he had no idea where he was, the last thing he remembered was firing his Spirit Gun at Naraku. He looked around. He was definitely in a shack, it looked like it was almost the end of the day, judging by the light that was coming in from the door. He looked to his left and saw Kagome sitting on the floor, her head on her knees, she was clearly asleep.

Yusuke's entire body was sore. He sat up a little straighter, he debated whether he should wake Kagome up or not. He was saved from making this decision when Sango walked in.

"You're up!"

"Yeah," he groaned, "How long was I out?"

"A week."

"Naraku?"

"He's dead."

Yusuke smiled. He would have cheered if he had felt up to it.

"The jewel shattered again." Sango said.

"That sucks."

Sango shook her head, "We defeated Naraku, it seems like a small price to pay."

Yusuke was silent.

"Kagome hasn't left your side, she's barely slept, what exactly happened to you? You were fine one minute, but the next..."

"I was low on Spirit Energy, so I used my life energy."

"You WHAT?" Kagome spurted out, she had woken up in the middle of the conversation.

"Oh, good, you're up." Yusuke said, "anyway, like I said, I used my life energy, I couldn't risk him getting away and then coming back to kill us all."

"You stupid jerk. You know you got away from death a third time now. You actually died again. What do you think that did to me? We're just lucky Sesshoumaru decided to save you."

"He did?"

"Yes."

"And here I thought he was evil." Yusuke said, not knowing or caring _how_ Sesshoumaru had saved him.

"You really scared me, Yusuke, don't do it again." Kagome said, leaning in closer to Yusuke. Sango seemed to have left.

"I hope I won't have too..." He said, leaning in as well.

Their lips met, all anger, and all fear was forgotten.

* * *

CHAPTER FINISHED! Woo, that got long. Anyway, I decided to have just one more chapter and to make it a long one. And now the _**IMPORTANT NOTICE!!**_ I'm making a sequel! Its gonna be YYH/Harry Potter/Inuyasha (kinda). I would like it if everyone that enjoyed this fic would follow it to the sequel. I'll release more details (as well as the first chapter) next time I update, see ya' then. Please review.

_Next Chapter__:_ Back to the Present!


	15. Return to the Present

Here we go; the final chapter of Recovering Hearts. Not sure I'm happy with this chapter; I think I tried to do too much with it. I would like to say that I have greatly enjoyed writing this fic, and I would like to give special thanks to all my reviewers; without you, I wouldn't have made it here. To ALL my readers: thank you all for taking this trip with me, and for taking the time to review if you did. My individual responses will be at the bottom of the chapter (to all reviewers of this chapter: I will respond through message if signed, and if not, then I will leave a review to respond to you all one week after I post this); I can think of no better way to wrap this fic up. **SEQUEL INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM IN MY CLOSING NOTES! **Please Review!

_**WARNING:**_ I know some people won't agree with the decision I made, but you know what? It's my fic. In this chapter, I get as close to a lemon (technically speaking, I'm not sure if it counts or not) as I ever will in any fic, assuming I don't get some one to write them for me.

* * *

"Hey! You two!" Inuyasha's voice broke them apart.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked, irritated.

"Kaede told me to check on you both." He said, strangely enough, he was telling the truth.

"Fine, we're both up. You can go away now."

Inuyasha left. Kagome stifled a yawn.

"Get some sleep; we can 'celebrate' later." Yusuke said to her, she was so tired she didn't even bother to argue. When she woke up again it was almost dark.

"Time to party!" Yusuke's voice was the first thing she heard.

The party went well into the night, of course, most of the time it was just Yusuke, Kagome, Shippo, and Inuyasha; Miroku and Sango had disappeared less then an hour into the celebration (they're just talking). After Shippo fell asleep, however, they called it quits (it wasn't the same without the whole group there anyway). Yusuke and Kagome would be going home the next day. They were walking back to the hut that they would be sharing with Shippo when Kagome stopped walking.

"What's up?" Yusuke asked her.

"Its over. It's finally over. Now all that's left is gathering the shards again."

"Yeah..." Yusuke said. He had a feeling he wouldn't be able to come back and help as much anymore.

"We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you."

"It was nothin'." Yusuke said, he wanted to kiss her, but she had a sleeping Shippo in her arms, and Yusuke didn't want to smother the little fox.

"Let's go get some sleep, tomorrow's gonna be a long day." He said.

"Why?" Kagome asked.

"My debriefing with the damn toddler. You're prolly gonna get questioned too."

Kagome sighed; no rest for the weary.

"Yeah, let's." She said.

They went to sleep. Yusuke found his dreams undisturbed by nightmares. He and Kagome woke the next morning; they were ready to go home.

Miroku and Sango had returned some time in the night, they went to see the two off; both were in an extremely good mood. Inuyasha joined them halfway to the well.

"Even you're comin' along? I'm surprised." Yusuke said jokingly, he knew Inuyasha would show up.

"I just wanna make sure you get the hell outta here so I don't hafta see you again." Inuyasha said, he was lying; he greatly respected Yusuke, even if he didn't really like him.

They arrived at the well.

"Well, I'm not one for long goodbyes...so let's get to the point."

Sango stepped up first, instead of taking his hand and shaking it like he had planned, she quickly hugged him. "Remember what you promised me." She said to him. She let go. Yusuke walked up to Miroku next and shook his once-cursed hand. "Learn to look and not touch." Yusuke said to him. He moved onto Shippo and rustled his hair. "See ya' around." He said, before coming to Inuyasha.

"See ya' later, prick." He said.

"Same to you, punkass." He said, shaking Yusuke's hand.

"Don't worry, I'll be around sometimes." Yusuke told the group at large. Kagome waved goodbye, and they jumped through the well, hand in hand.

The blue light surrounded them both, and together they returned to the present.

"We're back." Yusuke said, seeing the ceiling of the well house.

"Yeah." Kagome said. Yusuke picked her up and jumped out of the well. He set her down. They simply looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds, and then...

Both of their backpacks fell to the ground, their arms wrapped tightly around each other; lips hungrily devouring the other's. Kagome broke away from Yusuke and started to tug his shirt off, Yusuke lifted his arms up obligingly...if anything short of an emergency stopped them this time...

Kagome had Yusuke's shirt off quickly considering all the hair in the way. Yusuke, ever the gentleman, did not pull Kagome's shirt over her head; instead, he chose to rip it in half down the front; Kagome didn't seem to mind. He was on his back seconds later, Kagome's hands moving towards his waistband before...

"YUSUKE!!" A female voice called out, a voice Yusuke hadn't heard for more then two months.

Yusuke let out a disgruntled howl and got up, they had found him...if this was just for questioning there was a strong likelihood that Koenma wouldn't have an office left.

The door to the well house rolled open. There stood Botan, looking scared, oar in one hand. Kagome pulled on Yusuke's shirt.

"Yusuke! Thank goodness! Come on, they need you!"

"What's going on?"

"Demons, alot of them!" She hadn't even noticed Kagome.

"Kagome, I have to go. I'm sorry." He said before getting onto Botan's oar.

"Ok." She understood, Yusuke's friends were in danger, she would have done the same thing.

Botan took off at top speed.

"How'd you find me so fast?"

"Hiei and Kurama told us that your girlfriend disappeared in that well, when the demons came I couldn't do anything to help, so I waited and hoped you would show up." Botan sounded terrified, Yusuke reached out for his friends' energies, he found them, they were much lower then usual, they had to have been fighting for a while now.

They passed over a forest, Yusuke could see the battle at the opposite edge (they were shielded from the view of the city). Kurama and Hiei were holding their own, but Kuwabara was in trouble, an enormous demon was advancing on him, and he couldn't seem to repel it. As soon as he was within range Yusuke jumped from Botan's oar and unsheathed his sword (he had alot of time, he was over fifty feet above he battle) He concentrated his energy into the blade.

The sword came down right in the middle of the demon's head, but the entire demon was cut in half. He wasted no time charging into the battle, Kuwabara still hadn't figured out what had happened. Yusuke's power and skill had both improved greatly in the feudal era, and with his hair long, he was physically unrecognizable. Yusuke had cut down ten more demons before Kuwabara recognized him (Hiei and Kurama hadn't even noticed him yet, they were too engrossed in their fights to feel his energy or see him).

"Urameshi?? Where have you been?"

"Now is not the time!" Kurama yelled across the battlefield, he too was shocked by Yusuke's sudden appearance, but there were still well over one hundred demons left, all C-class or higher (ther had been three A-Class at first). The battle went on. Fifteen minutes later, Yusuke had fought right into the middle; he was completely surrounded, he couldn't keep up this pace on his own much longer; the others were trying to break through to join him, but were drained and not moving quick enough. A demon was bearing down upon him, its sharp claws would pierce him soon.

The demon, along with several that were lined up beside it, was disintegrated as a single arrow that was surrounded by blue light. Yusuke knew who had just saved him, but he was still surrounded; then again, he was no longer alone. Someone had followed in the wake of the arrow, some one dressed in a red kimono, wielding an enormous sword. Inuyasha was standing back to back with Yusuke now.

"You pain in the ass. Can't you do _anything_ on your own?"

"Sure I can, Inuyasha, I can kick your ass so hard you'll kiss the moon."

Inuyasha let out a single humorless laugh as he swiped away at the demons in front of him. The demons numbers were thinning, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Kurama were low on energy, but it didn't matter; Inuyasha and Yusuke were doing all the work now (they had already killed over one hundred demons apiece, the strongest ones first; they deserved a break).

When the last of the demons had fallen, Yusuke ran to his teammates, he had missed them.

"Hey guys, what's goin' on?" He said, his cocky smile in place.

"Hn. So nice of you to join us, Detective."

"Urameshi? Where the hell were you?"

"I was here in Japan the whole time."

"Yusuke, please elaborate." Kurama said.

"I was here, only about five hundred years in the past."

"WHAT?" Kuwabara asked, stunned.

"I'll explain later." He said as Kagome was by his side. She was wearing his shirt, and somehow, it made her look all the more sexy.

"Ah, so we meet again." Kurama greeted her politely, replacing the rose in his hair.

Kagome said nothing, her and Yusuke were now staring at each other, pulses pounding as they remembered what they had been doing when Botan had come.

"I'll talk to you guys later..." He said, not taking his eyes off Kagome. They ran in the direction of Yusuke's apartment (which was far away.

"Urameshi! Where are you going?" Kuwabara called after him, he made to follow them, but Kurama threw out an arm to stop him.

"Why'd you stop me?"

"Unless you want the Detective to beat you to death while he's bare-assed, then stay here. Or go, I could use some entertainment." Hiei answered, they seemed to knw what was going on at least.

Inuyasha had been left behind and was now stuck with the team.

Yusuke and Kagome reached his apartment (his mom was gone again); Yusuke being sure to lock the door behind him, he moved to kiss Kagome, but she stopped him.

"What?"

"You're covered in demon blood. Go get a shower." Kagome commanded more then said, "Do you have a washing machine? I'll get your clothes before they stain." All her time in the feudal era had taught her nothing ruined clothes like fresh blood; she wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

"Yeah...sure." Yusuke said, slightly put out. He went into the bathroom and got in the shower (throwing his clothes to Kagome outside the door). Meanwhile, on the edge of a nearby forest...

"Leave me alone!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Hiei, please put your sword away. Kuwabara, stop staring at his ears."

"At least _you_ aren't a complete ass."

"Thank you," said Kurama, bowing his head slightly, "Could you please tell us what has transpired involving Yusuke over these past weeks? You two seem to be acquaintances, and I was not aware Yusuke knew any half demons before his disappearance, other than himself."

"Well..." Inuyasha began.

Yusuke had to use an entire bottle of shampoo for his hair. He exited the shower and dried off; he had to admit, it felt nice to be properly clean. He tied a towel around his waist and exited the bathroom. Kagome was waiting for him in his bedroom...

**Mature audiences only  
**She took in the sight of Yusuke in a towel draped from his waist to just above his knees. She wasted no time, she was kissing him immediately, slowly guiding him over to his bed. The towel began slipping, Yusuke made to pull it back up, but Kagome stopped him and pushed him down on his bed; the towel fell off completely. She pulled off the shirt she was wearing; Yusuke undid her bra. Kagome slid off the remainder of her clothes; showing Yusuke her full, beautiful, form. And, for the first time in their lives, they made love.  
**Back to all audiences**

After a quick shower herself; Kagome returned to the now dressed Yusuke (she had changed into one of her uniforms. She had grabbed her bag out of habit before jumping through the well), who was waiting for her on the couch. He had a peaceful smile on his face, and wanted nothing more then to stay there with Kagome.

"We have to go..." She said, "Your friends have been waiting for you for months."

"They can wait a bit longer."

Kagome smiled, they would have to wait a bit longer. Kagome lay down with Yusuke. They were together like this for all of five minutes before an angry voice was heard over someone pounding on the door.

"YUSUKE URAMESHI! OPEN THIS DOOR!" Koenma's voice could be heard. Kagome was the one that answered.

"WHERE HAVE YOU-?" He stopped talking the instant he noticed it wasn't Yusuke he was shouting at. He looked awkward for a second, before sidestepping her.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

Yusuke sighed. "I don't suppose this could wait, could it?"

"No."

"Then get everyone together, I'm only telling this story once."

Half an hour later, Yusuke was walking up the stairs to Genkai's temple, Kagome had chose to come because it was really partially her fault, and she wasn't in a rush to go home and tell everyone that her boyfriend turned out to have immense spiritual powers (though she knew she would have to soon). The first thing that Yusuke saw upon reaching the top of the stairs was a fist in his face.

"DIMWIT!" Genkai said. She was angry, Yusuke was her best and favorite student, and he'd vanished without saying anything.

"What the fuck, Grandma? Is that how we're saying hi now?"

"Shut up! Get in the temple."

"Fine, ya' old bitch."

"And watch your mouth in front of the young woman."

Kagome wasn't sure which was more strange; the fact that Yusuke talked like this to the old woman, or that he obeyed her. They entered the temple.

"Puu!" said the small, fluffy, inner-Yusuke, instantly landing on his head.

Five more minutes and everyone was there (except, conveniently, Keiko). Inuyasha had returned to the feudal era after Yusuke's team had been unsatisfied with his explanation.

"Ok...it goes like this, I went to the past, killed a huge demon, then came back." Yusuke said.

"Even less then half-assed, you just set a new record for yourself." Genkai said.

"Fine! Ok, the last time I was here, I went to go stay over at Kagome's house, when I woke up she was leaving, I saw her go into the well house, so I followed her, eventually I jumped down and..." Yusuke told the story, with occasional help from Kagome, when he got to the part where Kagome came back for supplies, however...

"That reminds me, threaten her again, and I'll kick your ass, Hiei."

He continued, after receiving a promise of torture from Hiei.

"Yusuke, you realize you disobeyed my orders." Koenma said as soon as he'd finished. "You were supposed to stay in school."

"Those were fake orders!" Yusuke shouted.

"However, since you were hunting and destroying a powerful and dangerous demon, Spirit World will be willing to overlook this." He said as if Yusuke had never shouted.

"Detective, did you say you could use a sword now?" Hiei asked; Yusuke missed his tone.

"Yea-" Hiei's sword was at his throat.

"Hn. Abysmal." Hiei said before sheathing his sword. "You will begin training with me tomorrow morning, we will use the field here." Hiei said; little did he know that Yusuke had been planning on asking him from the start.

"Are we done here?" Yusuke asked the group at large.

"You need to call Keiko." Shizuru spoke up. Yusuke froze.

"Why?" He asked; a little on edge.

"She's been worried sick about you, and don't worry, she's not going to try and drag you away from Kagome."

Yusuke sighed, he really didn't want to talk to Keiko with Kagome so close, especially after the events of that afternoon. Kagome, however, nodded her consent to him.

"So, are we done now?" Yusuke asked again.

"Yes, I suppose we are." Koenma said.

Yusuke started to leave, but stopped when Genkai said "Sit your ass back down. We aren't done here." Everyone looked at her.

"What?"

"The demons, how did they get here?" Kurama asked; they had gotten no information.

"We...uh...we don't know..." Koenma answered.

"You don't know??" Kuwabara asked, shocked.

"We're looking into it; we may know of a related matter...the details are still fuzzy. We haven't had much time to look."

"Great, more work for me." Yusuke said sarcastically.

"Most likely." Koenma admitted, "We won't send you in until we know more, however."

"At least I get a little break..." He said. "If we're done, I'm leaving."

"Fine, go." Genkai said.

Yusuke and Kagome left, they went to his apartment first, so he could call Keiko. Kagome left the room while this transpired. Yusuke dialed the number Shizuru had given him. He got an irritable operator.

"Hi...can you transfer me to Keiko Yukimura's room?"

The operator sighed exasperatedly. "Ugh, Fine..."

"Hello? This is Keiko."

"How's it goin'?"

"YUSUKE!"

"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I can't talk long. Botan and Shizuru can fill you in..."

"Is...she there?" Keiko asked. Yusuke didn't need to ask who _she_ was.

"Yeah, she is. Anyway, I'm sorry I never talked to you after you left."

"Ok...Goodbye, Yusuke."

"Talk to ya' later." Yusuke hung up. He returned to Kagome.

"What do we do now?" He asked her.

"Can we go see my family? I haven't seen them since I got back."

"Won't they be surprised that I'm with you? With my hair like this?"

"I have to tell them sometime." Kagome said, her stomach growled, "And I'm hungry." Neither she nor Yusuke had eaten since that morning.

"Ok..." Yusuke said hesitantly.

They went to Kagome's shrine. They walked in and immediately ran into Sota.

"Who's _he_?" He asked, not noticing the clasped hands.

"What? You don't remember me?" Yusuke asked, grinning. Of course Sota wouldn't recognize him with his hair going down to the back of his knees.

"Tell mom to set the table for five tonight, please." She said before Sota could voice his shock. Sota did as he was told. Yusuke kissed Kagome on the cheek.

"I love you." He said to her; taking each one of her hands into his.

"I love you too." She said, smiling.

"Hello, Kagome dear, Yusuke." said Kagome's mom from way too close to have not heard them. She was wearing her usual pleasant smile.

"Hi mom." Kagome said as her face turned deep, dark red.

"Hi." Yusuke said, his face normal.

"Please wash your hands before we eat."

No one talked to them until dinner was ready half an hour later. Yusuke and Kagome washed their hands as promised.

"I have to say, I think your new hairstyle is nice, Yusuke." Kagome's mom said.

"Thanks," Yusuke mumbled awkwardly.

"So, it's the summer break now, do you two have any plans?" Kagome's mom asked. Summer break had begun three days ago.

"Yusuke came back to the feudal era with me last time." Kagome blurted out. Sota and Grandpa looked shocked, Kagome's mom looked the same as always.

"He's...really strong." She continued, "As strong as Inuyasha."

"Gimme some credit, I'm way stronger then him." Yusuke said. Kagome shot him a look that plainly said "shut up now."

"He helped us defeat Naraku."

"You beat him? That's wonderful!" Kagome's mom said. She didn't seem very surprised, and if she was, well, maybe the shock of your own daughter passing through time made you much more accepting of things like this.

"I wonder though...how did you manage to grow your hair out that fast?" She asked. Yusuke looked at Kagome to see whether he should answer, she gave him a quick nod.

"I'm part demon."

Sota and Grandpa nearly passed out from the shock. Yusuke felt like he should explain more, so he did. He gave a brief overview of his work as Spirit Detective. The rest of dinner passed with Yusuke being bombarded with questions by the two other males. When Kagome's mom had cleared up she asked...

"Yusuke, will you be spending the night tonight?" They had been basically unsupervised in the feudal era, it was too late to worry.

"Umm..." Yusuke hesitated, yes, he _wanted _to...Kagome smiled to let him know it was ok.

"Yeah, sure." He answered, he knew this wouldn't last, but it was one more night at least. Yusuke slept with Kagome as he had every night in the feudal era.

She woke him the next morning. They left so he could go train with Hiei. Kagome went with him.

"You're late." was Hiei's greeting. He wasted no time attacking, Yusuke managed to defend against a few strikes...

As the day wore on, Yusuke realized something: Hiei was completely insane! He granted no breaks, not even to dress injuries, of which there were many, and he only held back just enough as to not dismember Yusuke. The only time he stopped was to tell Yusuke what he was doing wrong. This went on until past sunset.

"We will train once a week. If you do not improve, I will stop wasting my time."

"Damn, and I thought Sango was good..."

"If that was your teacher before me then you are mistaken. She is exceptional by human standards, pathetic by mine."

Yusuke spent the next few days with the team (Kagome was with him most of the time). On this particular day, he had convinced Kuwabara to sword fight him. Yusuke was surprised at how hard it was for him to win. It was in the middle of their seventh round, that Botan appeared.

"Yusuke, Koenma wants to see you."

"Is this about another mission?" He asked. Kagome ran over to hear.

"Yes." Botan answered.

"DAMN IT! I never get a break!"

_**THE END**_

* * *

I have alot to say, so I'm gonna break it up into little chunks.

_**Sequel info**_ next.. I have decided to go with the title "Yusuke Urameshi and the Order of the Phoenix" I know it's not the most ORIGINAL title in the world, but meh. I am posting it right after I post this chapter, assuming nothing happens to stop that, if something happens that prevents me from posting then I will post it as soon as I can. It's not going to be nearly as heavy on the Yusuke and Kagome pairing (it'll still exist). I kinda made that impossible when I re-shattered the jewel(DAMN YOU, HINDSIGHT!). But don't worry, she's not getting cut out completely, I'll have her in it as much as I can. It takes place in the fifth year, Yusuke gets asked to guard the school, and he is asked to try and keep an eye out for one student in particular. Kurama is going with him, and the rest of the team will show up fairly often too. Here's the summary I'm going to go with:

Yusuke is sent to another country on a case. When he steps into an old man's fight with a group of demons it sets off a chain of events that wind him up in the last place he wants to be: School, even if it's a magic school...

I'm going to write it in a way so you don't have to read this fic as long as you know that it's a sequel; which I'll mention in my pre-fic notes.

_**Other fics I'm going to be writing**_. I have a few in minds. One is another YYHHPIY crossover, completely unrelated to either fic. It's one that I just thought of recently, I'll start it a few chapters into YUOotP (oh, and guess the pairing in it). Not sure what I'll call it yet. I am also planning a Yusuke/Sango fic. It'll be alot different from this fic. I have a few other ideas too, but they aren't developed enough yet. I have an idea planned for a sequel after the one mentioned before, but I'm going to set it up to where I can make the series end with the next one...should this be in sequel info?

_**Usual end chapter/end fic notes**_. Remember that mystery item back in chapter...ten I think it was? Know what it was now? Condoms. Kagome figured they were good to have just in case. I would again like to thank you all for taking the time to join me in this fic. I hope I didn't do bad with this chapter, I wrote it all in one sitting, and tried to cram as much as I could into it, I think the quality may have suffered...remember to review please.

--**REVIEW RESPONSES**--

_Hissy Cow:_ I enjoyed that last chapter too. Well, you just saw what happened, I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for ALL you reviews!

_Jessica:_ Yep, Naraku is dead. Hope you enjoyed my ending. Thank you for ALL your reviews!

_Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi:_ Glad you liked my story, but now, I cannot continue writing this one. You saw the sequel info, I hope to see you again in that. Thanks for ALL your reviews!

_Raine:_ Sequel should be up by the time you read this. I didn't even think about a Marauder's fic, but I also doubt I could do one anyway. Thank you for ALL your reviews!

_Time on my hands:_ Yeah, I thought everyone should have a shot at him, besides that I needed Sesshoumaru there (not just cuz he's a badass). Yeah, that was evil of Inuyasha, but he's kinda accepted the relationship now. I thought it made sense for Sesshoumaru to save Yusuke too; I had the respect thing planned out since their fight together, apart from that, it's not like it's _hard_ for him to resurrect people. And you were dead on with Hiei, I thought about using Sesshoumaru, but that would involve Yusuke being in the feudal era, and Sesshoumaru doesn't really have a reason to do that. Thank you for following my fic to the sequel and thank you for ALL your reviews!

_To all my reviewers:_ Thank you so much, you've lit my torch and now it burns brightly. I never expected this fic to be nearly as well liked as it was. Thank you!

Running in a crowd

In a faceless town

I need to feel the touch of a friend.

In the countryside

I wander far and wide

The isolation gets me again...

I don't know where to go

When I feel like crying

Oh my!

It's time to open myself

Do something new

I want to stop

and grow up a bit!

Then suddenly, my power and confidence starts swelling up

Magically erupts

And it's all because of kindness that I feel

From people I don't even know

Then suddenly, my intuition and my wisdom grow

And then I know

But most of all I sense compassions that's real

Thanks to strangers where ever I go...

Thank you for waking me up!

Up till now

How may times I've tried

To tell you, 'please take care of yourself...'

But with tear-stained eyes, I sadly said goodbye

As I waved and wished you farewell...

Then I think of how

How much longer, I must wait

I look inside myself, and feel something new

I wanna stop, and grow up a bit!

It's all because, I'm feeling sad

and then I cry; I don't know why...

The courage that I need,

The power to succeed,

Fills me with strength to fly...!

It's all because of when I see my friends

Oh my,

Every time,

They're always behind me

Pushing me on

Lighting the fire in me

Then suddenly, my power and confidence start swelling up,

Magically erupts

and it's all because of kindness that I feel

from people I don't even know.

I won't forget,

The times we shared and the pleasant days

Always

and I'll never lose the strength to succeed

and the courage, to do what I must

Your smile makes my heart explode!


End file.
